Love-Wave Acoustic Sensors Behavior in Complex Liquids: Multiparameter Sensing Using Acoustic and Electrical Signals

Abstract

Love wave (LW) acoustic sensors are promising devices for biochemical detection in the liquid media. However, their application for in-situ biochemical detection especially in the turbid liquid medium is not yet explored. Turbid liquids are complex in nature with both mechanical and electrical characteristics. These characteristics could be reliably estimated with LW acoustic sensor response, where some of the dedicated sensors based on electrochemistry or optical principle show limitations. This paper presents experimental responses of LW acoustic sensor to turbid liquids based on Formazin solutions and its comparison to the spectrophotometer response. Analysis of sensor's electro-acoustic response is used to better characterize the sensor performance with turbid liquids. Further, this paper demonstrates the feasibility of LW acoustic sensor as a multiparameter sensing unit by estimating the influence of electro-mechanical parameters of the turbid liquids on the overall response of the sensor.