Новый микроволновый биосенсор достиг рекордной чувствительности 600 МГц/ЕДР для анализа крови

*Important notice: This news reports on an unedited version of an accepted paper and is awaiting final editing. Therefore, the paper should not be regarded as conclusive or treated as established information. A newly developed microwave biosensor has achieved a maximum simulated sensitivity of 600 MHz per refractive index unit (MHz/RIU) for label-free analysis of biological-equivalent media. Researchers described this compact metamaterial-based microstrip sensor in Scientific Reports. This sensor is designed to detect changes in the dielectric properties of materials relevant to blood and hemoglobin analysis. By localizing electromagnetic fields within the sensing structure, the device can detect small variations in refractive index. This architecture shows potential for low-cost biomedical monitoring and diagnostic applications. Advancements in Electromagnetic Biosensing Biological sensing technologies are increasingly moving from time-consuming chemical analysis toward rapid electromagnetic characterization. In this context, microwave and millimeter-wave biosensors are promising because they offer deep tissue penetration, low-cost fabrication, and compatibility with portable electronics. To strengthen interactions between electromagnetic fields and biological targets, modern designs use resonant metamaterials. These structures concentrate electromagnetic energy within small regions, enhancing local field intensity and increasing sensitivity to subtle changes in a material’s dielectric properties. Because detection relies on electromagnetic responses rather than chemical labels, metamaterial-based sensors are a compact and efficient approach to biological sensing. Design and Fabrication of the Sensor Architecture To construct an efficient diagnostic platform, researchers designed a surface-resonant microstrip architecture with parallel rectangular resonators. The geometry was kept simple to avoid multilayer complexities, allowing the electromagnetic response to be modeled directly. The physical prototype was fabricated on a Rogers RT5880 lossy dielectric substrate with a relative permittivity of 2.2 and a low loss tangent of 0.0009. A thin perfect electric conductor layer was patterned using photolithography and etched to form the required resonators. ADS was used to refine the dimensional parameters, while CST Microwave Studio was used to extract effective electromagnetic properties via S-parameter retrieval. Experimental measurements were performed with an HP8510B vector network analyzer to validate simulations and evaluate sensor performance. The study compared graphene, silver, copper, gold, and aluminum as conductive materials to identify the highest signal transmittance. Transmission spectra were measured across 0–4 GHz, while the electrical lengths and characteristic impedances of seven structural segments were systematically evaluated. Performance Metrics and Sensitivity Analysis Evaluations showed that the metamaterial architecture achieved strong electromagnetic confinement and operated at an optimal resonance frequency of approximately 2.1 GHz. Between 2 and 2.5 GHz, the sensor exhibited epsilon-near-zero behavior, enhancing field localization. This produced a dipole-like electric field pattern along the sensor's central axis. Comparative testing identified silver and graphene as the conductive materials with the highest transmittance. Using silver resonators with blood- and hemoglobin-equivalent analytes having refractive indices of 1.33–1.43, the sensor demonstrated a smooth, monotonic decrease in resonance frequency as refractive index increased. This highly stable and consistent response produced a maximum sensitivity of 600 MHz/RIU. The sensor produced pronounced resonance features, with transmission dips reaching approximately −60 dB in the modeled response and low reflection around the dominant resonance. The device achieved a quality factor of 22.46 and a maximum figure of merit of 5.34. The gradual response to changes in effective permittivity supports the consistency of the resonance-based detection mechanism. Download a copy of this page by clicking here. Potential Use in Point-of-Care Diagnostics The main application of this technology is label-free characterization of complex biological fluids through their dielectric properties. By eliminating chemical labeling, the sensor could, with further development, support rapid biomarker screening. Its compact geometry and demonstrated sensitivity to blood- and hemoglobin-equivalent media make it a potential candidate for integration into point-of-care diagnostic devices. With further development, the low-cost fabrication approach could also support portable diagnostic systems for real-time, noninvasive monitoring outside centralized laboratories. Further validation with more sophisticated clinical samples will be needed to determine its suitability for noninvasive disease detection and monitoring of chronic conditions such as liver disorders. Future Prospects for AI-Integrated Screening Solutions This microwave-resonant metamaterial biosensor shows the potential of label-free dielectric sensing for biomedical applications. Its high sensitivity and high quality factor, coupled with electromagnetic field confinement, enable detection of refractive index changes in biologically equivalent media. The close agreement between simulations and experimental measurements further supports the reliability of the proposed architecture. Future work should focus on validating the sensor with complex biological samples under controlled clinical conditions. Integration with multimodal artificial intelligence could eventually support automated interpretations of dielectric sensing data and contribute to noninvasive diagnostic systems. Journal Reference Valinasab, A., et al. (2026). Microwave metamaterial sensor for label-free dielectric characterization of biological equivalent media. Scientific Reports. DOI: 10.1038/s41598-026-67023-w, https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-026-67023-w. 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