Applications of Piezoelectric Quartz Crystal Microbalances deals with the theory, design, artifacts, and varied applications of the piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance. Applications of microbalances range from thin film deposition process control to simultaneous measurement of mass and temperature, analytical chemistry, and space system contamination studies. Stress effects in microbalances are also considered. Comprised of 10 chapters, this volume begins with a historical background and overview of applications of piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalances, followed by an analysis of the theory and practice of microbalances. The role of acoustic impedance in a quartz crystal microbalance and design considerations for a microbalance are given emphasis. Subsequent chapters focus on applications of microbalances in thin film deposition process control; simultaneous measurement of mass and temperature; surface science and analytical chemistry; plasma-assisted etching and space system contamination studies; and aerosol mass measurement. This monograph will be of interest to students and practitioners of physics, chemistry, and materials science.

This book describes the physics of the second-generation quartz crystal microbalance (QCM), a fundamental method of analysis for soft matter at interfaces. From a device for measuring film thickness in vacuum, the quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) has in the past two decades evolved into a versatile instrument for analyzing soft matter at solid/liquid and solid/gas interfaces that found applications in diverse fields including the life sciences, material science, polymer research and electrochemistry. As a consequence of this success, the QCM is now being used by scientists with a wide variety of backgrounds to study an impressive diversity of samples, with intricate data analysis methods being elaborated along the way. It is for these practitioners of the QCM that the book is written. It brings across basic principles behind the technique and the data analysis methods in sufficient detail to be educational and in a format that is accessible to anyone with an undergraduate level knowledge of any of the physical or natural sciences. These principles concern the analysis of acoustic shear waves and build on a number of fundamental physical concepts which many users of the technique do not usually come across. They have counterparts in optical spectroscopy, electrical engineering, quantum mechanics, rheology and mechanics, making this book a useful educational resource beyond the QCM itself. The main focus is the physics of QCM, but as the book describes the behavior of the QCM when exposed to films, droplets, polymer brushes, particles, vesicles, nanobubbles and stick-slip, it also offers insight into the behavior of soft matter at interfaces in a more general sense.

In this book, the authors present new developments in quartz research. Topics discussed in this compilation include the nature of paramagnetic defects in a-Quartz; veined quartz of the Urals; QCM in the active mode; densification of quartz particle beds by tapping; rapid detection for pollutants and bacteria based on quartz crystal microbalance biosensors; novel quartz oscillator measurement for gas composition changes; detection/adsorption of chemical and biological molecules based on quartz crystal microbalance QCM as sensor; usefulness of quartz crystal microbalance techniques to assess in situ detergency process efficiency; ultra-stable quartz oscillators; and gold analysis after nanoparticle adsorption on quartz reflectors and total reflection x-ray fluorescence (TXRF) analysis.

Handbook of Immunoassay Technologies: Approaches, Performances, and Applications unravels the role of immunoassays in the biochemical sciences. During the last four decades, a wide range of immunoassays has been developed, ranging from the conventional enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays, to the smartphone-based point-of-care formats. The advances in rapid biochemical procedures, novel biosensing schemes, fully integrated lab-on-a-chip platforms, prolonged biomolecular storage strategies, device miniaturization and interfacing, and emerging smart system technologies equipped with personalized mobile healthcare tools are paving the way to next-generation immunoassays, and are all discussed in this comprehensive text. Immunoassays play a prominent role in clinical diagnostics as they are the eyes of healthcare professionals, helping them make informed clinical decisions via confirmed disease diagnosis, and thus enabling favorable health outcomes. The faster and reliable diagnosis of infections will further control their spread to uninfected persons. Similarly, immunoassays play a prominent role in veterinary diagnostics, food analysis, environmental monitoring, defense and security, and other bioanalytical settings. Therefore, they enable the detection of a plethora of analytes, which includes disease biomarkers, pathogens, drug impurities, environmental contaminants, allergens, food adulterants, drugs of abuse and various biomolecules. - Provides a valuable increase of understanding of cellular and biomedical functions - Gives the most updated resource in the field of immunoassays, providing the comprehensive details of various types of immunoassays that need to be performed in healthcare, and in industrial, environmental and other biochemical settings - Discusses all multifarious aspects of immunoassays - Describes the immunoassay formats, along with their principle of operation, characteristics, pros and cons, and potential biochemical and bioanalytical applications - Provides extensive knowledge and guided insights as detailed by experienced, renowned experts and key opinion makers in the field of immunoassays

Do not learn the tricks of the trade, learn the trade I started teachinggraduate coursesin chemical sensors in early 1980s, ?rst as a o- quarter (30 h) class then as a semester course and also as several intensive, 4–5-day courses. Later I organized my lecture notes into the ?rst edition of this book, which was published by Plenum in 1989 under the title Principles of Chemical Sensors. I started working on the second edition in 2006. The new edition of Principles of Chemical Sensors is a teaching book, not a textbook. Let me explain the difference. Textbooks usually cover some more or less narrow subject in maximum depth. Such an approach is not possible here. The subject of chemical sensors is much too broad, spanning many aspects of physical and analytical chemistry, biochemistry, materials science, solid-state physics, optics, device fabrication, electrical engine- ing, statistical analysis, and so on. The challengefor me has been to present uniform logical coverage of such a large area. In spite of its relatively shallow depth, it is intended as a graduate course. At its present state the amount of material is more thancan be coveredin a one-semestercourse (45h). Two one-quartercourseswould be more appropriate. Because of the breadth of the material, the sensor course has a somewhat unexpected but, it is hoped, bene?cial effect.