Design of a graphene-loaded slotted ring resonator for sensor applications

Graphene is a monolayer of carbon atoms with remarkable electronic and mechanical properties amenable to sensor applications. While the plasmonic nature of graphene at terahertz frequency has been widely reported, investigations on the practical utility of graphene at the microwave frequencies used in wireless sensor nodes are sparse. In this paper, a printed RF slot ring resonator is configured with a graphene thin-film for sensor application. The conductive losses in the graphene film are characterized by dielectric spectroscopy and considered in the design. The graphene sensing element comprising the slot ring can be integrated with control electronics as a passive wireless sensor node, but the sensor aspect is not addressed in this paper. The novelty of the paper is that RF losses are minimized by capacitively loading the ring at selective locations along its periphery. Dielectric spectroscopy is used to study variation in surface impedance of the film for various graphene loadings, and RF simulations are corroborated with measurements on graphene loaded slot ring resonators.