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The Dissipative QCM-D Technique: Interfacial Phenomena and Sensor Applications for Proteins, Biomembranes, Living Cells and Polymers

Year: 1999

Journal: 1999 Joint Meeting EFTF - IEEE IFCS, Volume 2, 13-16 April 1999 Page(s):966 - 972 vol.2, 20100827

Authors: Höök F. 1 2, Rodahl M. 3, Keller C. 1, Glasmäster K. 1, Fredriksson C. 3, Dahlqvist P. 3, Kasemo B. 1

Last authors: B. Kasemo

Organizations: 1 Department of Applied Physics, Chalmers University of Technology and Göteborg University, S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden 2 Department of Molecular Biology, Göteborg University, S-412 96 Göteborg, Sweden 3 Q-Sense AB, Holtermansgatan 1, S-412 92 Göteborg, Sweden

Country: Sweden

Biological substances in contact with solid, non-biological materials, is a situation of broad scientific interest and technological importance, and there is a growing need for new tools to study these interactions. Among many different properties of the biological films formed at the interfaces, the viscoelastic properties are of central interest, since these properties can be used as a discriminator in bio sensing and in the study of polymer films.

We have developed a sensor system based on the traditional quartz crystal micro balance (QCM) technique, but where both the resonant frequency (f) and the energy dissipation (D) are measured simultaneously for a non-driven (freely oscillating) sensor crystal. This provides accurate and precise measurements of f and D in the gaseous and liquid phases. The performance of this so called QCM-D system is illustrated by measurements of protein adsorption and antibody-antigen reactions, biomembrane formation on surfaces from vesicles in solution, cell attachment experiments, and polymer cross-linking kinetics.