Response of quartz crystal microbalance coated with palladium thin film: diffusion and geometrical sensitivity effects.

The interaction of two different phenomena, the gas diffusion in a membrane and the spatial dependent sensitivity of a transducer, affects the final response of a sensor. In this paper we present data and simulation of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) utilizing a thin film of palladium as hydrogen detector. Preliminary results show that it is possible to exploit these peculiar properties of the membrane and of the transducer to enhance the overall performance of the sensor. The membrane and transducer used for this work are merely one example and the concept here exposed can be applied to other more complex systems.