Design of a High-Performance Surface Plasmon Resonance Sensor for Precise Detection of Alcoholic Compounds in Forensic and Medical Applications

Precise detection of alcohol compounds remains a critical imperative in environmental monitoring and clinical diagnostics. This investigation presents a biosensor architecture incorporating graphene-gold hybrid metasurfaces, leveraging the synergistic properties of these materials to achieve enhanced alcohol detection capabilities. The sensor design was analyzed through finite element modelling using COMSOL Multiphysics 6.2. The proposed architecture comprises an array of central square resonators, split rectangular resonators, and rectangular strip resonators deposited on a SiO2 substrate. Integration of gold metasurfaces with graphene demonstrates significant enhancement in sensor sensitivity and other key performance metrics, enabling precise quantification of various alcohol compounds including acetone, methanol, and ethanol. The metasurfaces configuration facilitates rapid optical response characteristics, enabling real-time detection capabilities. Numerical simulations and performance characterization demonstrate sensitivity values ranging from 100 to 200 GHzRIU-1, with quality factors between 7.945 and 8.037. The device achieved a refractive index unit (RIU) detection threshold of 0.499. Given these measurement capabilities, the proposed sensor outperforms current methods, making it valuable for forensics, clinical testing, and environmental sensing applications.