Publication on AWSensors technology

Exploring the effect of humidity on thermoplastic starch films using the quartz crystal microbalance

Authors: Matthew D. Eaton,  Daniel Domene-López,  Qifeng Wang, Mercedes G. Montalbán,  Ignacio Martin-Gullon, Kenneth R. Shull.

Journal: Carbohydrate Polymers, 2021

Publication on AWSensors technology

Scrutiny of the LiCoO2 Composite Electrode/Electrolyte Interface by Advanced Electrogravimetry and Implications for Aqueous Li-Ion Batteries

Authors: Wanli Gao, Natacha Krins, Christel Laberty-Robert, Hubert Perrot, and Ozlem Sel

Journal: The Journal of Physical Chemistry, 2021

Publication on AWSensors technology

Well-Defined Lignin Model Films from Colloidal Lignin Particles

Authors: Muhammad Farooq , Zou Tao, Juan José Valle-Delgado, Mika Henrikki Sipponen, Maria Morits, Monika Österberg

Journal: Langmuir, 2020

Publication on AWSensors technology

A Fast Method for Monitoring the Shifts in Resonance Frequency and Dissipation of the QCM Sensors of a Monolithic Array in Biosensing Applications

Authors: Román Fernández; María Calero; José Vicente García-Narbón; Ilya Reviakine; Antonio Arnau; Yolanda Jiménez

Journal: IEEE Sensors Journal, 2021

Publication on AWSensors technology

Two-dimensional adaptive membranes with programmable water and ionic channels

Authors: Daria V. Andreeva, Maxim Trushin, Anna Nikitina, Mariana C. F. Costa, Pavel V. Cherepanov, Matthew Holwill, Siyu Chen, Kou Yang, See Wee Chee, Utkur Mirsaidov, Antonio H. Castro Neto & Kostya S. Novoselov.

Journal: Nature Nanotechnology, 2020

Potentiostat Integration for EQCM

Potentiostat Integration Application Note

March 15th 2021: AWSensors is pleased to invite you to take a look to the its new Application Note on Potentiostat Integration entitled “Potentiostat integration with AWSensors equipment“.

Summary of the Note

Seamless integration of QCMD and electrochemistry in the AWSensors EQCMD systems allows simultaneous measurements of the amount, electrochemical properties, and organization of material at the air/liquid interface accessed through the changes in the resonance frequency and dissipation measured by QCMD and the potential/current relationships measured with an integrated potentiostat or a galvanostat. The capabilities of the integrated AWSensors electrochemical EQCMD systems are illustrated here using the electropolymerization of aniline as an example.

Potentiostat Integration for EQCM

Introduction

Investigation of complex interfacial processes benefit from combinations of complementary surface-analytical techniques that are based on different principles and approach the interface from complementary perspectives. [1,2] In this regard, the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation measurements, or EQCMD, has a venerable history. [3-5] Indeed, one of the incentives for immersing QCMD in liquids in the 1980s was to perform combined EQCMD measurements [6]. The two approaches are complementary in terms of the information they provide about the solid-liquid interface: interfacial mass transfer and structural changes are accessed with QCMD, while electrochemistry is concerned with the interfacial charge transfer and surface potential changes. Of particular interest is the quantitative characterization of electrochemically driven structural or viscoelastic transitions in interfacial layers, e.g., in battery research [7].

To accommodate the needs of researchers working with electrochemical applications in a wide variety of fields, AWSensors developed QCMD instruments with integrated potentiostat/galvanostat control for synchronizing QCMD and electrochemical experiments with appropriate BioLogic potentiostat or galvanostat. To illustrate the functionality, we use a straight-forward aniline polymerization experiment.

Electropolymerization of aniline to form polyaniline (PANI), and its electrochemical properties, have been widely studied, including by electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance (ref. [8-10], and references therein). Here, we go through the necessary steps for setting up an electrochemical experiment with the integrated QCMD/potentiostat combination for following aniline electropolymerization on the gold electrode surface of a QCMD sensor. The gravimetric and electrochemical results are presented, and the gravimetric results are compared with the cyclic voltammetry.

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Publication on AWSensors technology

Deciphering the Influence of Electrolytes on the Energy Storage Mechanism of Vertically-Oriented Graphene Nanosheet Electrodes by Using Advanced Electrogravimetric Method

Authors: Tao Lé, Gérard Bidan, Florence Billon, Marc Delaunay, Jean-Michel Gérard, Hubert Perrot, Ozlem Sel and David Aradilla

Journal: Nanomaterials, 2020

Publication on AWSensors technology

A Multichannel Microfluidic Sensing Cartridge for Bioanalytical Applications of Monolithic Quartz Crystal Microbalance

Authors: María Calero, Román Fernández, Pablo García, José Vicente García, María García, Esther Gamero-Sandemetrio, Ilya Reviakine, Antonio Arnau and Yolanda Jiménez.

Journal: Biosensors, 2020

Innovative Company

Innovative SME

February 22nd 2021: AWSensors was registered as an innovative company by the Spanish Government on March 26th 2020.

This acknowledgement was granted to AWSensors because it is a company which is developing new products to be introduced in the market and it is improving the existent ones in the QCM market.

The applications were AWSensors technology is being applied are listed in our Application webpage. Visit our Technology webpage to learn more about how AWSensors technology works.

 

Innovative SME - PYME innovadora

Love-SAW sensors

Love-SAW sensors Technology Note

February 15th 2021: AWSensors is pleased to invite you to take a look to the its new Technology Note on Love-SAW sensors “AWSensors Love-SAW sensors“.

Summary of the Note

Advanced Wave Sensors (AWSensors) develops and markets various types of sensors: classical QCM, High Fundamental Frequency QCM, and Love-Surface Acoustic Wave (Love-SAW). Love-SAW sensors do not measure love, but they do measure other interesting properties of interfacial layers. This Note is dedicated to explaining the basics of the operation of these less known acoustic sensors.

 

Love-SAW sensor

Introduction to Love-SAW sensors

Love waves are shear horizontally (SH) polarized surface acoustic waves. They are named after Augustus Edward Hough Love, who predicted them mathematically in 1911, and appear in fields as distinct as seismology and sensing [1].

Figure 1. a) Piezoelectric material, such as quartz, cut at a certain angle relative to the crystallographic axis, is used as a substrate in the construction of the Love-SAW sensors which basic structure is shown in b) (Taken from [2]).

Love-SAW sensors use a piezoelectric substrate (like quartz), in which the surface acoustic waves are excited by applying electrical current in a specific direction relative the crystallographic orientation of the piezoelectric material (see Figure 1a). The waves are then confined into the guiding layer overlaying the piezoelectric substrate. The structure of such a sensor is shown in Figure 1b where the current is applied through the so-called interdigitated transducers (IDTs), located between the substrate and the guiding layer. A standing Love wave is generated in the space between the IDTs (D in Figure 2), defining the sensing area. The condition for the existence of these waves is that the shear velocity in the guiding layer is less than that in the substrate. It is this difference in the mechanical properties between the guiding layer and the substrate that slows down the wave propagation velocity and traps the acoustic energy in the guiding layer keeping the wave energy near the surface. The sensitivity of this device is determined by the degree of wave confinement in the guiding layer. Thus, the higher the confinement of the wave in the guiding layer, the higher the sensitivity of the device is.

Love-SAW sensors typically operate at frequencies of hundreds of MHz. The operating frequency of a Love-SAW sensor is defined by the materials of its structure, the periodicity of the IDTs, λ in Figure 2, and the guiding layer thickness, d [2].

Key advantages of Love-SAW devices include efficient operation in liquids, mechanical stability (robustness), and high sensitivity (due to the high operating frequency by only changing the IDTs periodicity). Key limitations include a need for calibration due to the lack of simple, predictive model describing SAW wave propagation akin to the Sauerbrey relationship in QCMD or Lorentz-Lorenz and de Feijter’s relationships in ellipsometry. [3–5]

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You can download the full Love-SAW Technology Note in pdf format from this link. A list of our Technology Notes can be found on our Technology Web Page.

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