Quartz crystal microbalance sensor coated with nano-sized polystyrene latex spheres for SO2 detection.

In order to investigate the effect of surface morphology on the sensing performance in detecting sulfur dioxide, two different types polystyrene, polystyrene latex spheres (PLS) and polystyrene film (PSF), are synthesized by using an emulsion polymerization, which are coated on quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) surfaces. It is found that the sensing performance is strongly dependent on the morphology of polymer materials. The adsorption capacity of the synthesized PLS is higher than that of the PSF. In addition, the response of the PLS coated QCM to SO2 is approximately 6 times faster than that of the PSF coated one. The adsorption characteristics of SO2 on the PLS coated QCM are also evaluated in terms of temperature and concentration. These results show that the PLS can be used as SO2 sensor materials due to their high sensitivity and quick response.