Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications
Gas sensors have wide applications in several fields, spanning diverse areas such as environmental monitoring, healthcare, defense, and the evaluation of personal and occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals. Different typologies of gas sensors have been proposed over the years, such as optical,...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2022-03-01
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| Series: | Chemosensors |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/10/4/127 |
| _version_ | 1797436315426357248 |
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| author | Giovanni Gugliandolo Krishna Naishadham Giovanni Crupi Nicola Donato |
| author_facet | Giovanni Gugliandolo Krishna Naishadham Giovanni Crupi Nicola Donato |
| author_sort | Giovanni Gugliandolo |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Gas sensors have wide applications in several fields, spanning diverse areas such as environmental monitoring, healthcare, defense, and the evaluation of personal and occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals. Different typologies of gas sensors have been proposed over the years, such as optical, electrochemical, and metal oxide gas sensors. In this paper, a relatively new typology of gas sensors is explored: the microwave gas sensor. It consists of a combination of a microwave transducer with a nanostructured sensing material deposited on an interdigitated capacitor (IDC). The device is designed and fabricated on a Rogers substrate (RO4003C) using microstrip technology, and investigated as a microwave transducer over the frequency range from 1 GHz to 6 GHz by measuring the scattering (S) parameters in response to gas adsorption and desorption. The sensing material is based on a nano-powder of barium titanate oxalate with a coating of urea (BaTiO(C<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>/CO(NH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>2</sub>). It is deposited on the IDC surface by drop coating, thus creating a sensing film. The developed prototype has been tested toward different oxygen (O<sub>2</sub>) concentrations and exhibits a sensitivity of 28 kHz/%O<sub>2</sub>. Special attention has been devoted to the measurement process. Besides the canonical short-open-load-thru (SOLT) calibration of the measured S-parameters, a thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration has been performed in order to get rid of the parasitic electromagnetic (EM) contributions of the board connectors and the feedlines, thus moving the measurement reference planes to the edges of the IDC. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:00:50Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1c4060372ebc4eb78f5e3fe787849921 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2227-9040 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T11:00:50Z |
| publishDate | 2022-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Chemosensors |
| spelling | doaj.art-1c4060372ebc4eb78f5e3fe7878499212023-12-01T01:16:25ZengMDPI AGChemosensors2227-90402022-03-0110412710.3390/chemosensors10040127Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing ApplicationsGiovanni Gugliandolo0Krishna Naishadham1Giovanni Crupi2Nicola Donato3Department of Engineering, University of Messina, 98158 Messina, ItalySchool of Electrical Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332, USADepartment of Biomedical and Dental Sciences and Morphofunctional Imaging, University of Messina, 98125 Messina, ItalyDepartment of Engineering, University of Messina, 98158 Messina, ItalyGas sensors have wide applications in several fields, spanning diverse areas such as environmental monitoring, healthcare, defense, and the evaluation of personal and occupational exposure to hazardous chemicals. Different typologies of gas sensors have been proposed over the years, such as optical, electrochemical, and metal oxide gas sensors. In this paper, a relatively new typology of gas sensors is explored: the microwave gas sensor. It consists of a combination of a microwave transducer with a nanostructured sensing material deposited on an interdigitated capacitor (IDC). The device is designed and fabricated on a Rogers substrate (RO4003C) using microstrip technology, and investigated as a microwave transducer over the frequency range from 1 GHz to 6 GHz by measuring the scattering (S) parameters in response to gas adsorption and desorption. The sensing material is based on a nano-powder of barium titanate oxalate with a coating of urea (BaTiO(C<sub>2</sub>O<sub>4</sub>)<sub>2</sub>/CO(NH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>2</sub>). It is deposited on the IDC surface by drop coating, thus creating a sensing film. The developed prototype has been tested toward different oxygen (O<sub>2</sub>) concentrations and exhibits a sensitivity of 28 kHz/%O<sub>2</sub>. Special attention has been devoted to the measurement process. Besides the canonical short-open-load-thru (SOLT) calibration of the measured S-parameters, a thru-reflect-line (TRL) calibration has been performed in order to get rid of the parasitic electromagnetic (EM) contributions of the board connectors and the feedlines, thus moving the measurement reference planes to the edges of the IDC.https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/10/4/127gas sensorsoxygenmicrowavemeasurementsTRL standardscalibration |
| spellingShingle | Giovanni Gugliandolo Krishna Naishadham Giovanni Crupi Nicola Donato Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications Chemosensors gas sensors oxygen microwave measurements TRL standards calibration |
| title | Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications |
| title_full | Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications |
| title_fullStr | Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications |
| title_full_unstemmed | Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications |
| title_short | Design and Characterization of a Microwave Transducer for Gas Sensing Applications |
| title_sort | design and characterization of a microwave transducer for gas sensing applications |
| topic | gas sensors oxygen microwave measurements TRL standards calibration |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9040/10/4/127 |
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