iHEART: a miniaturized near-infrared in-line gas sensor using heart-shaped substrate-integrated hollow waveguides

A novel heart-shaped substrate-integrated hollow waveguide (hiHWG) was integrated with a near-infrared micro-spectrometer (NIR) for sensing natural gases, resulting in an ultra-compact near-infrared gas sensing system iHEART. The iHEART system was evaluated using two different NIR spectrometers, and the performance was compared with a laboratory NIR spectrometer for gas analysis based on an acousto-optic tunable filter (AOTF). The spectral data were pre-processed using the 1 st derivative SavitzkyGolay algorithm, and then used for establishing multivariate regression models based on partial least squares (PLS). The root mean square errors of prediction (RMSEPs) obtained for major components of natural gas with both iHEART systems were similar to those associated with the AOTF spectrophotometer combined with a conventional long-path measurement cell. It was demonstrated that the iHEART system has significant potential for the development of compact in-line gas sensing systems, thus facilitating monitoring of (petro)chemically relevant processes and products. However, the flexibility and modularity of the system also allows tailoring iHEART to a wide range of other relevant analytical measurement scenarios requiring short response times and minute gas sample volumes. Integration of a heart-shaped substrate-integrated hollow waveguide with a micro-spectrometer results in an ultra-compact gas sensing system: iHEART.