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The change in thickness of the solidified liquid layer rather than the immobilized mass determines the frequency response of a quartz crystal microbalance

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Abstract

The “solidified liquid layer” model has been examined using a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) with a polymeric matrix. The model is shown to give a reasonable explanation for the following experimental observations: (i) The opposite response of the QCM and surface plasmon resonance (SPR) for the activation process; (ii) the marked difference in the responses for IgG/anti-IgG interaction between QCM and SPR. Theoretical analysis and experimental results indicated that QCM is sensitive to the thickness change of the “solidified liquid layer” but not the mass of captured biomolecules (i.e., the immobilized mass), implying caution must be taken in interpreting QCM results.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Engineering, College of Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    JianAn He & Jing Fang

  2. Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Suzhou, 215123, China

    YuDong Lu & HongWei Ma

  3. Biomed-X Research Center, Academy of Advanced Interdisciplinary Studies, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China

    Jing Fang & HongWei Ma

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  1. JianAn He
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  2. YuDong Lu
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  4. HongWei Ma
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Correspondence to HongWei Ma.

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He, J., Lu, Y., Fang, J. et al. The change in thickness of the solidified liquid layer rather than the immobilized mass determines the frequency response of a quartz crystal microbalance. Sci. China Chem. 55, 175–181 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4467-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11426-011-4467-8

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