State-of-the-art in terahertz sensing for food and water security – A comprehensive review

Abstract

Past few years have witness a dramatic change in the field of terahertz (THz) technology. The recent advancements in the technology for generation, manipulation and detection exploiting THz radiation have brought revolution in the field. Many researchers around the world have been inspired by the potential of invaluable new applications of THz sensing for food and water contamination detection. The microbial pollution in water and food is one the crucial issues with regard to the sanitary state for drinking water and daily consumption of food. To address this risk, the detection of microbial contamination is of utmost importance since the consumption of insanitary or unhygienic food can lead to catastrophic illness. This paper presents a first-time review of the open literature focused on the advances in the THz sensing for microbiological contamination of food and water and state-of-theart network architectures, applications, industrial trends and recent developments. Finally, open challenges and future research directions are presented with in the field.

The Gyrotrons as Promising Radiation Sources for THz Sensing and Imaging

“…Many industrial processes, most notably food production and processing due to their importance, the large volume of products, numerous serious safety, and quality control concerns could benefit enormously from non-destructive screening and inspection. Such a perspective has stimulated the development of various novel THz technologies [89][90][91] that avoid the usage of ionizing radiation (X-rays), which has a detrimental effect on the living matter. However, most of the techniques utilize broadband THz radiation (e.g., TDS (time-domain spectroscopy) systems) or laser light of low power and higher frequencies that, respectively, have small penetration depth.…”

Application of a Terahertz System Combined with an X-Shaped Metamaterial Microfluidic Cartridge

“…The terahertz (THz) gap normally refers to a frequency band ranging from 0.1 to 10.0 THz, which is located between the microwave and infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum [1]. Compared with electromagnetic waves in other ranges, terahertz radiation is able to penetrate, without destruction, most non-polar materials in a way that is similar to a property of microwaves, and can be applied to security tests because of its ability to discern objects [2]. In addition, terahertz radiation might be readily absorbed by polar materials, such as water molecules and ammonia molecules, for which the characteristics of vibrational and rotational transitions all occur in the THz frequency band [3,4]; these molecular structures consequently generate a different mode of resonance, change of refractive index and absorbance, and present distinct spectral characteristics.…”

Bio-based Substances From Compost as Reactant and Active Phase for Selective Capture of Cationic Pollutants From Waste Water

“…In this case, the application of the material was chosen in the field of wastewater remediation, as water contamination, similarly to refuse accumulation, has become a serious worldwide concern that can cause many health problems, particularly in industrial countries. Scientists are facing the issue developing simple, fast, and environmentally friendly methods for decomposition or removal, in general, of pollutants, in particular of organic ones (de Paul Obade and Moore, 2018 ; Jaramillo and O'Shea, 2018 ; Vega et al, 2018 ; Ren et al, 2019 ).…”