Detection of chemical warfare agents using surface acoustic wave sensors with different polymer coatings

Surface acoustic wave sensors (SAWS) with polymer based sensitive films were developed for detection of chemical warfare agents (CWAs). As polymers were used polybutadiene, polyisoprene, polydimethylsiloxane and polyethylenimine. The sensor was ldquodelay linerdquo type, deposited on quartz substrate, with 69.4 MHz central frequency. As CWAs were tested chloropicrin, hydrogen cyanide, soman and lewisite. The study compared sensor sensitivity, limit of detection (LOD) and absolute sensitivity for different polymeric sensitive coatings (polyethylenimine, polybutadiene, polyisoprene, polydimethylsiloxane). The results demonstrated sensitivities of 0.1-2.7 Hz/ppm, and the LOD in the range of 51.5-1091 ppm.