Ratiometric info-chemical communication system based on polymer-coated surface acoustic wave microsensors.

Yang, J.; Rácz, Z.; Gardner, J.W.; Cole, M.; Chen, H.

Abstract

A novel ratiometric info-chemical communication system has been developed that is based upon an array of four surface acoustic wave (SAW) resonator microsensors operating at a frequency of 262 MHz and under ambient conditions. The info-chemical mixtures were generated by a micro-evaporator and transported to the SAW sensors inside a flow chamber. Binary mixtures of 3-methylbutan-1-ol and ethyl acetate were used to demonstrate the principle of encoding and decoding different ratios of volatile info-chemicals in this system. The resonant frequencies of the four polymer-coated SAW sensors and the associated reference (uncoated) SAW sensors were used to determine differential responses corresponding to the different ratiometric mixtures of the info-chemicals. The SAW sensors were spray coated with four different stationary phase polymer compounds, namely polycaprolactone, polyvinylcarbazole, polystyrene-co-butadiene, and polyethylene-co-vinylacetate. Principal components analysis was performed on both steady-state and dynamic features extracted from the sensor responses. Our results show clear linear separability of the different chemical ratios as distinct clusters in multi-variate space. In conclusion, we believe that this is the first demonstration of the encoding, transmitting, and decoding ratiometric information using a system based upon an array of SAW-based microsensors. This novel info-chemical communication system, based upon fixed ratios, transmits chemical information over distances that would otherwise be impossible using absolute concentrations.

Citation

Yang, J., Rácz, Z., Gardner, J., Cole, M., & Chen, H. (2012). Ratiometric info-chemical communication system based on polymer-coated surface acoustic wave microsensors. Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, 173, 547-554. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2012.07.043

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 10, 2012
• Online Publication Date: Jul 24, 2012
• Publication Date: 2012-10
• Deposit Date: Sep 10, 2013
• Journal: Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical
• Print ISSN: 0925-4005
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 173
• Pages: 547-554
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.snb.2012.07.043