Single-scan measurement of conductance of a quartz crystal microbalance array coupled with resonant markers for biosensing in liquid phase

Abstract

This work presents a method for sensing the viscoelastic property of liquid/solid interface using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) array. Each sensor in a QCM array has a unique resonant frequency and can be identified by a single-scan measurement of admittance (or impedance). The resonant frequency encoding at each sensor in an array was realized by connecting a capacitor with a known capacitance, called a resonant marker, to the sensor in series. Changes in the resonant frequency of all sensors in an array can be determined using an impedance analyzer and a program that determines the frequencies at which the conductance is at a local maximum. The sensing method allows every sensor output (resonant frequency) to be obtained without the use of time-consuming multiplexed hardware and software. Adsorptions of biomolecules by multiple sensor are monitored in the liquid phase to demonstrate the feasibility of frequency encoding using resonant markers and the single-scan measurement of conductance of a QCM array.