Evaluation of chemical reaction kinetics using a thermally active piezoresistive microcantilever array

This work investigates the evaluation of chemical reaction kinetics with a piezoresistive microcantilever array. By controlling the temperature of individual cantilevers in the array, the reaction constants can be measured at a single analyte concentration in one measurement. Adsorption and desorption of 6-mercaptohexanol on a gold-functionalized cantilever was studied at 21degC and 50degC. Current results show that desorption rates of mercaptohexanol depend on mass transport parameters. Activation energy of the desorption reaction in dry N₂ is evaluated as DeltaE = -5.85 kJ/mol.