Detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using quartz crystal microbalances

Stanley, S., Percival, C.J., Auer, M., Braithwaite, A., Newton, M.I., McHale, G. and Hayes, W. ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0047-2991 (2003) Detection of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons using quartz crystal microbalances. Analytical Chemistry, 75 (7). pp. 1573-1577. ISSN 0003-2700 doi: 10.1021/ac0257546

Abstract/Summary

A chemically coated piezoelectric sensor has been developed for the determination of PAHs in the liquid phase. An organic monolayer attached to the surface of a gold electrode of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) via a covalent thiol-gold link complete with an ionically bound recognition element has been produced. This study has employed the PAH derivative 9-anthracene carboxylic acid which, once bound to the alkane thiol, functions as the recognition element. Binding of anthracene via pi-pi interaction has been observed as a frequency shift in the QCM with a detectability of the target analyte of 2 ppb and a response range of 0-50 ppb. The relative response of the sensor altered for different PAHs despite pi-pi interaction being the sole communication between recognition element and analyte. It is envisaged that such a sensor could be employed in the identification of key marker compounds and, as such, give an indication of total PAH flux in the environment.