Fl. Dickert et al., MOLECULAR IMPRINTING IN CHEMICAL SENSING - DETECTION OF AROMATIC AND HALOGENATED HYDROCARBONS AS WELL AS POLAR-SOLVENT VAPORS, Fresenius' journal of analytical chemistry, 360(7-8), 1998, pp. 759-762
The technique of molecular imprinting - a novel tool of sensor materia
l synthesis - can be successfully combined with mass-sensitive transdu
cers. Imprinted polymers are prepared in presence of inert analytes ac
ting as molecular templates. The remaining imprint allows the molecula
r recognition of an analyte due to host-guest-interactions. The sensor
properties of devices coated with imprint polymers can be tuned to th
e analyte by variation of the polymerization solvent and the amount of
cross-linker added. A further sensitivity enhancement can be achieved
by rising the resonant frequencies of QMBs and SAW resonators, since
the signal to noise-ratio increases in an approximately linear manner
with the oscillation frequency.