Electronic nose based on multipatterns of ZnO nanorods on a quartz resonator with remote electrodes

An electrodeless monolithic multichannel quartz crystal microbalance (MQCM) sensor was developed via the direct growth of ZnO nanorod patterns of various sizes onto an electrodeless quartz crystal plate. The patterned ZnO nanorods acted as independent resonators with different frequencies upon exposure to an electric field. The added mass of ZnO nanostructures was found to significantly enhance the quality factor (QF) of the resonator in electrodeless QCM configuration. The QF increased with the length of the ZnO nanorods; ZnO nanorods 5 μm in length yielded a 7-fold higher QF compared to the QF of a quartz plate without ZnO nanorods. In addition, the ZnO nanorods offered enhanced sensitivity due to the enlarged sensing area. The developed sensor was used as an electronic nose for detection of vapor mixtures with impurities.