Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a newly emerging human infectious disease caused
by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Early diagnosis is
essential to reducing the transmission rate and mortality of COVID-19. PCR-based tests
are the gold standard for the confirmation of COVID-19, but immunological tests for
SARS-CoV-2 detection are widely available and play an increasingly important role in the
diagnosis of COVID-19. Nanomechanical sensors are biosensors that work based on a change
in the mechanical response of the system when a foreign object is added. In this paper,
a graphene-based nanoresonator sensor for SARS-CoV-2 detection was introduced and
analyzed by using the finite element method (FEM). The sensor was simulated by coating a
single-layer graphene sheet (SLGS) with a specific antibody against SARS-CoV-2 Spike S1
antigen. In the following, the SARS-CoV-2 viruses were randomly distributed on the
SLGSs, and essential design parameters of the nanoresonator, including frequency shift
and relative frequency shift, were evaluated. The effect of the SLGS size, aspect ratio
and boundary conditions, antibody concentration, and the number of viruses variation on
the frequency shift and relative frequency shift were investigated. The results revealed
that, by proper selection of the nanoresonator design variables, a good sensitivity
index is achievable for identifying the SARS-CoV-2 virus even when the number of the
viruses are less than 10 per test. Eventually, according to the simulation results, by
using SLGS geometry determination, an analytical relationship is presented to predict
the limit of detection (LOD) of the sensor with the required sensitivity index. The
results can be applied in designing and fabricating specific graphene-based
nanoresonator sensors for SARS-CoV-2.
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