Quartz crystal microbalance with thermally-controlled surface adhesion for an efficient fine dust collection and sensing

• Published in: Journal of hazardous materials 2022-02, Vol.424 (Pt B), p.127560-127560, Article 127560
• Main Authors: Jang, Il Ryu, Jung, Soon In, Lee, Gunhee, Park, Inyong, Kim, Sang Bok, Kim, Hoe Joon
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Dust; Dust sensor; Fine dust; Microheater; Polystyrenes; Quartz; Quartz crystal microbalance; Quartz Crystal Microbalance Techniques; Surface adhesion
• ISSN: 0304-3894; 1873-3336
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.127560

The mass concentration of fine dust or particles acts as a standard measure to express the severity of air pollution. In connection with this, many related sensor technologies have been suggested for both indoor and outdoor uses. Among several technologies, the direct measurement of the dust mass using resonant platforms is the most preferable as it possesses multiple advantages including high sensitivity, low limit of detection, and a rapid response time. Such sensor performances directly rely on the adhesion quality between the sensor substrate and dust. In this work, we introduce a thermally controlled dust capturing scheme by integrating a polystyrene (PS) layer and microheater on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The Pt microheater can rapidly heat the sensor up to 100 °C, allowing a controlled switching between the soft and hard conditions of the PS film at a rapid rate. When the film is soft, the sensor can capture dust particle efficiently and we can calibrate the attached particle mass by measuring the resonance response. Compared to a bare QCM, our sensor used in this study exhibits 11 times larger detectable mass range. In addition, heated QCMs show a performance that is comparable to a high-cost particle sensing equipment such as an aerodynamic particle sizer and optical particle counter [Display omitted] ●A Pt microheater is integrated on a PS coated quartz crystal microbalance (QCM).●The device can reach above 100 °C at a power of about 600 mW within a minute.●When heated, the PS layer becomes sticky and efficiently collects fine dust.●The sensor exhibits 11 times more sensing range compared to a bare QCM.