ABSTRACT
Common limitations of existing sensors designed to detect and measure chemical and biological analytes motivate a reevaluation of current paradigms in order to design and fabricate sensor systems with improved capabilities [1]. Existing sensor platforms essentially identify a single analyte. Detection occurs only after the analyte of interest deposits on a sensor surface. A surrogate analyte property such as mass or conductivity is transduced into sensor signal, but at rates and sensitivities limited by equilibrium and diffusion constraints. As a result, sensor costs increase in proportion to utility, but inversely with portability for eld use. Recent developments in characterization and fabrication of nanostructured metamaterials offer radical paradigm shifts in sensor design that could provide direct, sensitive distinction of multiple analytes at improved throughput while reducing cost and complexity of sensor platforms.
