Polymer-coated quartz crystal microbalance chemical sensor for heavy cations in water.
A flow type quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) (bio)chemical sensor was developed for the real time determination of heavy metal ions that is suitable for environmental monitoring. A new process has been developed which enables to obtain surface-modified gold electrodes with high heavy metal ions complexing ability. The sensing performances of the piezoelectric sensor used in a flow-through setup were investigated by monitoring the frequency variation induced by the presence of heavy metal ions, such as copper and lead, as model ions, in aqueous media. X-Ray Reflectivity (XRR) and Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) were carried out to characterize the unmodified and modified gold surfaces.
Department of Chemistry and Physics for Engineering and Materials, University of Brescia, Brescia 25133, Italy.
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Sartore
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Barbaglio
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Penco
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Bergese
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Bontempi
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Colombi
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Depero