Love-Wave Acoustic Sensors Behavior in Complex Liquids: Multiparameter Sensing Using Acoustic and Electrical Signals

Love-wave (LW) acoustic sensors are promising devices for biochemical detection in liquid media. However, their application for in situ biochemical detection especially in the turbid liquid medium is not yet explored. Turbid liquids are complex in nature with both mechanical and electrical characteristics. These characteristics could be reliably estimated with LW acoustic sensor response, where some of the dedicated sensors based on electrochemistry or optical principles show limitations. This article presents experimental responses of the LW acoustic sensor to turbid liquids based on formazin solutions and its comparison to the spectrophotometer response. Analysis of the sensor’s electro-acoustic response is used to better characterize the sensor performance with turbid liquids. Furthermore, this article demonstrates the feasibility of the LW acoustic sensor as a multiparameter sensing unit by estimating the influence of electro-mechanical parameters of the turbid liquids on the overall response of the sensor.