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Porous Cantilevers As Chemical Sensors, Steven Noyce, Robert Davis
Porous Cantilevers As Chemical Sensors, Steven Noyce, Robert Davis
Journal of Undergraduate Research
Many chemical sensing methods rely on the binding mechanism of the analyte to create a measurable response, making it difficult to create new sensors quickly, but resonant sensors require only that an analyte be bound and rely on the resulting change in mass to obtain a measurement. Solid resonant microcantilevers, or small vibrating fixed-free beams, are a type of resonant sensor that have shown extremely high sensitivities in vacuum environments. The sensitivity of these cantilevers, however, decreases greatly in fluid environments such as air or water due to fluid damping. We propose that porous microcantilever sensors offers both a ten …
Porous Cantilevers As Chemical Sensors, Steven Noyce, Robert Davis
Porous Cantilevers As Chemical Sensors, Steven Noyce, Robert Davis
Journal of Undergraduate Research
Resonant cantilevers, or small vibrating beams, are used to detect small concentrations of chemicals. As molecules or atoms of the substance to be sensed adhere to the vibrating beam, the resonant frequency changes as a result of the change in mass. These sensors are built on the microscale to allow for mass parallelization. An array of cantilevers could each be coated with a different adhesion layer, making each beam sensitive to a unique substance. These sensors have previously been made of solid materials, but because the sensitivity is proportional to the surface area of the resonator, a porous cantilever could …