The portability, compactness, price, and deployment of sensing systems are determined in large part by the power consumption and simplicity of the sensing platform used. We demonstrate a microcantilever chemical detection platform based on an array of piezoelectric microcantilevers. The sensor-element array power consumption, including actuation, is measured in nanowatts, with impedance of the order of megohms. This is four to five orders of magnitude lower power dissipation than current cantilever chemical detection platforms using optical or piezoresistive detection. The sensor is further characterized in the picowatt regime. The platform comprises three cantilevers wired in series, where variations in the resonant frequency and quality factor of selectively coated cantilevers, during successive impedance measurements, enable detection of ethanol vapor.
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