11 - Theoretical Modeling of QCM-D Sensors in Environmental Applications

Abstract

Theoretical work on QCM-D based acoustic sensors operated in gases, vapors and liquids containing dispersed microscopic particles is developed. With the main goal to provide theoretical support to the sensors for air pollution control, our analytical results supplemented with numerical calculations provide a way to quantify measurements taking into account the shear viscosity of liquid as a function of pollutant particles number for the small volume fractions (i.e., within the Einstein relation) and beyond the Einstein relation numbers. For the higher concentrations, the packing factor variation has been tested for modeling microscopic particles -in -water dispersions. Various types of pollutants with known density were used for modeling such as polymer particles, carbon black, fullerenes, mineral dust and bacteria. For the non-spherical particles, the shape factor was introduced as an additional model parameter. The role of softness of the surface-attached layer is studied in details.