Development of a real-time QCM bond-rupture system for POCT applications

The research of a piezoelectric biosensor (Quartz Crystal Microbalance, QCM) can provide an effective, real-time POCT (Point-of-Care Testing) detection technology for the use in the areas of health healthcare, clinical research, drug screening, food inspection, marine environmental protection, etc. The detecting system now used in QCM sensors has some limitations on accuracy. A new QCM bond-rupture system was therefore developed to measure the resonant frequency changes with mass loading. It has the higher sensitivity than a network analyzer. An efficient algorithm of resonant frequency tracking was also designed, which lead to the 0.14Hz/(ng·cm^-2) sensitivity.