Love Wave Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor with Laser-Deposited Nanoporous Gold Sensitive Layer

Langmuir-Blodgett Films of Arachidic and Stearic Acids as Sensitive Coatings for Chloroform HF SAW Sensors

Properties of the Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) films of arachidic and stearic acids, versus the amount of the films' monolayers were studied and applied for chloroform vapor detection with acoustoelectric high-frequency SAW sensors, based on an AT quartz two-port Rayleigh type SAW resonator (414 MHz) and ST-X quartz SAW delay line (157.5 MHz). Using both devices, it was confirmed that the film with 17 monolayers of stearic acid deposited on the surface of the SAW delay line at a surface pressure of 30 mN/m in the solid phase has the best sensitivity towards chloroform vapors, compared with the same films with other numbers of monolayers. For the SAW resonator sensing using slightly longer arachidic acid molecules, the optimum performance was reached with 17 LB film layers due to a sharper decrease in the Q-factor with mass loading. To understand the background of the result, Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) in intermittent contact mode was used to study the morphology of the films, depending on the number of monolayers. The presence of the advanced morphology of the film surface with a maximal average roughness (9.3 nm) and surface area (29.7 µm²) was found only for 17-monolayer film. The effects of the chloroform vapors on the amplitude and the phase of the acoustic signal for both SAW devices at 20 °C were measured and compared with those for toluene and ethanol vapors; the largest responses were detected for chloroform vapor. For the film with an optimal number of monolayers, the largest amplitude response was measured for the resonator-based device. Conversely, the largest change in the acoustic phase produced by chloroform adsorption was measured for delay-line configuration. Finally, it was established that the gas responses for both devices coated with the LB films are completely restored 60 s after chamber cleaning with dry air.

Nanotechnology and Acoustics in Medicine and Biology

BACKGROUND

Nanotechnology plays an important role in various engineering fields, one of which is acoustics.

METHOD

Here, we review the use of nanotechnology in multiple acoustic-based bioapplications, with a focus on recent patents and advances. Nanoparticles, nanorods, nanotubes, and nanofilms used in acoustic devices are discussed. We cover ultrasonic transducers, biosensors, imaging tools, nanomotors, and particle sorters.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

The way these ideas help in fundamental disciplines such as medicine is shown. We believe the current work is a good collection of advances in the field.

Effect of Pd/ZnO Morphology on Surface Acoustic Wave Sensor Response

Laser deposition was used to obtain Pd/ZnO bilayers, which were used as sensing layers in surface acoustic wave (SAW) sensors. The effect of laser deposition parameters such as deposition pressure, laser energy per pulse, laser wavelength or pulse duration on the porosity of the Pd and ZnO films used in the sensors was studied. The effect of the morphology of the Pd and ZnO components on the sensor response to hydrogen was assessed. Deposition conditions producing more porous films lead to a larger sensor response. The morphology of the ZnO component of the bilayer is decisive and has an influence on the sensor properties in the same order of magnitude as the use of a bilayer instead of a single Pd or ZnO layer. The effect of the Pd film morphology is considerably smaller than that of ZnO, probably due to its smaller thickness. This has implications in other bilayer material combinations used in such sensors and for other types of analytes.

Temperature Dependence of Normalized Sensitivity of Love Wave Sensor of Unidirectional Carbon Fiber Epoxy Composite on Mn-Doped 0.24PIN-0.46PMN-0.30PT Single Crystal Substrate

Love wave sensors have attracted significant interest due to their high sensitivity and low attenuation. Love mode acoustic dispersion relation, highest normalized mass sensitivity, optimum normalized waveguide layer thickness, and temperature coefficients of frequency (TCF) were theoretically studied for the carbon fiber epoxy composites (CFEC)/Mn:0.24PIN-0.46PMN-0.30PT structure sensor. The highest normalized mass sensitivity exhibits a decreasing trend as the temperature increases from 25 °C to 55 °C. TCF can be improved by increasing the normalized layer thickness (h/λ); however, the temperature dependence of normalized mass sensitivity decreases. For the carbon fibers (CFs) in the CFEC waveguide along the propagation direction of Love wave, the device has a relatively small TCF of −10.92 ppm/°C at h/λ = 0.4001, where the normalized mass sensitivity is approximately 1.5 times that of a typical fused quartz/ST-quartz configuration device. The theoretical results imply that good temperature stability and high measurement precision were obtained from the device in the system CFEC/Mn:0.24PIN-0.46PMN-0.30PT with the CFs in the CFEC along the propagation direction of Love wave (x-axis). The ideal waveguide material requires a small elastic constant c44; however, the ideal piezoelectric substrate requires large elastic constants c44E and c66E.