A Noncontact Dibutyl Phthalate Sensor Based on a Wireless-Electrodeless QCM-D Modified with Nano-Structured Nickel Hydroxide

• Published in: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Vol. 17; no. 7; p. 1681
• Main Authors: Chen, Daqi, Sun, Xiyang, Zhang, Kaihuan, Fan, Guokang, Wang, You, Li, Guang, Hu, Ruifen
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 21.07.2017; MDPI
• Subjects: Chemical industry; dibutyl phthalate; overtone; Sensors; wireless-electrodeless QCM with dissipation; wireless-electrodeless QCM with dissipation; overtone; dibutyl phthalate
• ISSN: 1424-8220; 1424-8220
• DOI: 10.3390/s17071681

Dibutyl phthalate (DBP) is a widely used plasticizer which has been found to be a reproductive and developmental toxicant and ubiquitously existing in the air. A highly sensitive method for DBP monitoring in the environment is urgently needed. A DBP sensor based on a homemade wireless-electrodeless quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) coated with nano-structured nickel hydroxide is presented. With the noncontact configuration, the sensing system could work at a higher resonance frequency (the 3rd overtone) and the response of the system was even more stable compared with a conventional quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). The sensor achieved a sensitivity of 7.3 Hz/ppb to DBP in a concentration range of 0.4–40 ppb and an ultra-low detection limit of 0.4 ppb of DBP has also been achieved.