Simultaneous characterisation of films and surfaces using QCMD and SPR techniques
March 2017
Earlier this year Jenny Andersson of Insplorion visited Australia to present a short seminar on the technology behind Acoulyte, and the benefits that the multi-technique measurement regime can bring to the study of surfaces.
Wet mass and visco-elastic properties of films can be accurately determined using quartz crystal microbalance with dissipation (QCM-D) technique. Characterisation of the samples in the dry state, however, requires a separate undertaking in the form of SPR, elipsometery, reflectometry, etc.
Now, the arrival of Acoulyte paves the way for the most direct approach to orthogonal interrogation of interfaces by applying the QCM-D and SPR techniques on the same sample at the same time! This not only reciprocally reinforces the validity of the data but also significantly reduces time and effort otherwise required to achieve similar results.