Increasing the sensitivity of piezoelectric odour sensors based on molecularly imprinted polymers

The molecular imprinting technique has been used to create sensors with a predetermined selectivity for molecules in the gas phase. Based on previous results, piezoelectric quartz crystals were first coated with a layer of nylon, to provide increased sensitivity, and then a layer of a polymer imprinted with 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) was applied to endow the device with selectivity. The response of the 'imprinted' sensor was significantly higher than the response of the 'non-imprinted' sensor at MIB concentrations above 10 ppb. Our new sensor is thus 20 times more sensitive than our previous device. At concentrations greater than 10 ppb, the response of the 'non-imprinted' sensor to geosmin, another odorant often accompanying MIB, was significantly higher than the response of the 'imprinted' sensor. A number of other odorants were examined and, as in our previous work, the responses of the 'non-imprinted' sensors were found to be to greater than the responses of the 'imprinted' sensors.