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Updated: May 5, 2026
Simulation, Fabrication and Characterization of THz Metamaterial Absorbers
Published on: December 27, 2012
Resonance-matched terahertz metamaterials integrated with IRFE-MLR framework enabling specificity-enhanced detection
Lintong Zhang1, Jingsen Yang1, Jiachen Zhang2
1Center for Artificial Intelligence in Agriculture, Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University, Fuzhou, 350002, China.
Background:
Pefloxacin (PEF), a widely used broad-spectrum antimicrobial, garners considerable scientific concern due to its inherent biotoxicity and potential risk of antibiotic resistance gene transfer. Current detection methods remain time- and labor-intensive, while exhibiting inadequate sensitivity for precise trace-level quantification. Targeted enhancement of the response signal of the target analyte is a key focus in biochemical molecular sensing detection. Terahertz metamaterials sensors (TMSs) are commonly used to enhance the terahertz (THz) spectral response signals of target analytes, but suffer from inherent specificity limitations, requiring complex surface chemical modifications.
Results:
This study designed a rotationally symmetric TMS (resonance peaks at 0.763 THz and 1.007 THz) targeting PEF fingerprint peaks (0.778 THz and 0.954 THz), achieving specificity-enhanced detection of PEF through physical resonance characteristics. To address low accuracy in conventional univariate regression models, an improved recursive feature elimination-multivariate linear regression (IRFE-MLR) algorithm framework was proposed. The designed TMS exhibited high resonance matching (S value = 98.5 % and 94.7 %) with PEF, and the IRFE-MLR model significantly enhanced trace detection performance (R2 = 0.95, RMSE = 9.36) compared to the univariate model (R2 = 0.82, RMSE = 19.31), achieving a detection limit of 5 ng/L and a mean recovery rate of 115.13 % (RSD = 5.91 %). Comparative tests of PEF, enrofloxacin (ENR), and nadifloxacin (NAD) revealed that the TMS exhibited superior sensitivity to PEF at 0.763 THz, attributed to its high Q-factor (sharp resonance) and S value. The former enhanced dielectric response sensitivity, while the latter strengthened near-field coupling for analyte-TMS interaction.
Significance:
This study provides a high-sensitivity and high-reliable PEF residue sensing strategy without complex surface modification and provides an extensible design paradigm for specificity-enhanced TMS. The proposed method can be extended to ultra-trace detection of other critical biochemical hazards, holding significant implications for environmental pollution control and food safety assurance.
