An experimental verification of the possible influence of gas nano-bubbles on the response of an electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance.

Electrochemical removal of oxygen and hydrogen from aqueous solution in the vicinity of gold electrodes, with simultaneous measurements of the response of the quartz crystal microbalance, show no evidence of gas nano-bubbles attached to the surface, irrespective of its roughness and hydrophobicity. The contact between gold and frozen electrolyte, which forms a liquid-like layer between them, also does not contain gas bubbles. These statements could be extended to nano-bubbles with characteristic dimensions larger than a few nanometers.

Influence of roughness on the admittance of the quartz crystal microbalance immersed in liquids.

The effect of surface roughness on the response of the QCM has been considered, both theoretically and experimentally. A new theoretical approach to the description of the effect of roughness on the response of the QCM is proposed that accounts for the multiscale nature of roughness. Performing experiments in liquids having a wide range of viscosity and density made it possible to understand, for the first time, what characteristics of roughness influence the QCM experiments.