qCell T - A novel quartz crystal microbalance

3T Analytik, located in Tuttlingen/Germany developed the qCell T  featuring a novel, easy-to-use and versatile Quartz Crystal Microbalance (QCM) in a thermostated flow cell with a gold coated, disposable quartz crystal sensor mounted on a carrier sheet.

The flow cell with fully integrated fluidics unlocks with a quarter turn of a bayonet lock and unveils an immobilized quartz sensor on a sheet of mylar. This allows the sensor to be easily manipulated by just handling the mylar sheet with its predesigned anchor points into the open trench base. The virtually tension free mounting of the quartz sensor provides an extremely stable baseline and a sensitive response to changes in frequency and dissipation (dampening). A peristaltic pump supplies liquid at user programmable flow rates. Integrated software for instrument control, data acquisition, graphic display and processing completes the system.

 The gold sensor surface can be functionalized for capture-type substrate interactions or to study thin films, leading to changes of the resonance frequency (the QCM principle can be pictured as a very fine balance with nanogram resolution).

Link to 3T Analytik

Link to Hettich (US)