Piezoelectric quartz crystals with electrodes separated and modified surface as sensors in liquid media

Author(s)

Dosil Pereira de Jesus

• Document type: Master's Dissertation
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Conjunto das Químicas (IQ e FCF) (CQ/DBDCQ)
• Defense date: 1999-08-10

Examining board members

Claudimir Lúcio do Lago; Valmir Fascio Juliano; Jorge César Masini

• Advisor: Claudimir Lúcio do Lago

Abstract

This work describes the construction and evaluation of a liquid-phase detector using a piezoelectric quartz crystal (PQC) (3,579545 MHz) with separated electrodes. The detection cell has two brass electrodes, which were placed at a small distance (a tenth of millimeters) from the crystal surface, whose original silver electrodes were removed. One of the gaps between the crystal and the electrodes is filled with air, while the other one is filled with a liquid, which flows through the cell. The electrodes are connected to an oscillator, whose oscillation frequency is measured by a frequency counter interfaced to a microcomputer. The influence of the conductivity, density, viscosity and flow rate of the solution on the PQC oscillation frequency was determined. The behavior of the impedance of the cell and its phase angle as a function of the previously mentioned reologic properties ofthe solution were also studied using an impedance analyzer. Two methods for the silanization of the crystal surface, using trimethylchlorosilane (TCS) and N-(β-aminoethyl)-γ-aminopropyltrimethoxysilane (AEAPTS), were developed to test the assembly as a gravimetric sensor in a flow injection analysis system. The TCS-silanized PQCs were tested for the detection of organic compounds (chloroform and acetone), while the AEAPTS-silanized PQC were used for the detection of metallíc íons. These last PQC showed a good sensibility to Cu2+ ions, for which a limit of detection of about 20µM was obtained. (AU)