New frequency/voltage converters for ac-electrogravimetric measurements based on fast quartz crystal microbalance

A better understanding of the mechanisms located at the solid/electrolyte interface is becoming essential to the development of new applications in the electrochemical fields. The fast quartz crystal microbalance is an attractive and powerful gravimetric sensor which can be used in the dynamic regime to determine a mass/potential transfer function. The principle is equivalent to classical electrochemical impedance measurements; the only difference is the determination of mass changes given by the quartz crystal microbalance rather than current changes following sine wave modulations of the applied potential. This function appears very well adapted to characterize ionic exchanges at the electrochemical interface. Frequency/voltage converters are the key devices in translating the microbalance frequency response in terms of a continuous voltage change. The latter allows the transfer function to be obtained via a frequency response analyzer. Different converters were tested in this work in order to improve the performances of the experimental setup.