Quantitative control of CaCO growth on quartz crystal microbalance sensors as a signal amplification method.

The surface crystallization of CaCO on gold was monitored by a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). Quantitative control of the grown crystals was realized by adjusting the ratio of two functional groups, -N(CH) and -COOH, on SAMs. Crystals with uniform size, morphology and polymorphism were obtained. The amount of crystals formed was found to increase with an increase in the -COOH group. The proposed quantitative control of crystallization can be an effective mass amplification strategy for QCM to enhance its assay sensitivity.