A Quartz Crystal Microbalance with Dissipation (QCM-D) system is a sensitive interfacial technique to monitor particle interaction with environmentally relevant surfaces. Essentially, the instrument has four flow modules where four crystal surfaces can be mounted simultaneously. Each of these crystals is a piezo-electric material and thereby has its own vibrational frequency. A constant voltage is applied to the crystal to generate an oscillating vibration. Particles are flown across the crystals at a controlled flow rate. Deposition of particles results in change in frequency of the crystals. This instrument is unique due to the capabilities of real time energy dissipation monitoring, frequency and dissipation monitoring of the freely oscillating crystal, fast analysis at 200 data points per second, dynamic range of frequency measurements (5MHz up to 65MHz, 7 total frequencies), and Q-Tools analysis software with the Voigt (viscoelastic), Sauerbrey and kinetic modeling abilities.

Read more about the instrument in manufacturer website.