Infrared metamaterial for surface-enhanced infrared absorption spectroscopy: pushing the frontier of ultrasensitive on-chip sensing

Abstract Surface-enhanced infrared absorption (SEIRA) spectroscopy is a powerful technique that overcomes the issue of low molecular absorption cross-sections in infrared spectroscopy. Due to the collective oscillations of electrons in the infrared regime, SEIRA using resonant metamaterial provides greatly enhanced (up to 107) electromagnetic fields extending up to tens of nanometers from the metamaterial. The enhanced near-field enables spectroscopic analysis and ultrasensitive on-chip sensing of molecules. This interesting characteristic has aroused widespread attention from researchers to SEIRA technology, and various SEIRA-based sensing applications have been continuously emerging. Optimization of the signal enhancement to obtain high sensing performance is the developing main thread of SEIRA technology. In this Review, we provide a basic understanding of SEIRA’s sensing mechanism and theoretical model. With this background, several SEIRA optimizing methods are discussed, ranging from design, materials to algorithms. Additionally, perspectives about the future development trends of SEIRA technologies are discussed.