Detection of Volatile Alcohol Vapors Using PMMA-Coated Micromechanical Sensors: Experimental and Quantum Chemical DFT Analysis

Micromechanical sensors, in which the sensor response is created as a result of molecular interactions on the sensors' surfaces, have been employed as a powerful technique for rapid and sensitive detection of low concentrations of chemical and biological materials. In the study reported herein, poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA)-coated microcantilever (MCL) sensors were used to detect the vapors of volatile alcohols (methanol, ethanol, and isopropanol) at three different concentrations. A vapor generator was used to generate and flow the alcohol vapor onto the PMMA coated MCL surface in a closed system chamber. The vapor adsorption onto the MCL surface results in a rapid and measurable deflection of the MCL. No significant deflections of the uncoated MCL occurred when the different vapors were passed through into the microcantilever chamber. Linear concentration-deflection responses were observed, with the highest sensitivity shown with methanol, followed by ethanol and then isopropanol. Density functional theory (DFT) quantum chemical calculations were conducted to estimate the electronic interaction energies (Delta IE) between the alcohol molecules and MMA and two different model tetrameric segments of PMMA. The computed Delta IEs were in the same order as the experimentally observed order: methanol > ethanol > isopropanol.