Abstract
This study presents a novel biochip containing a gold-nanoparticles modified quartz crystal microbalance (nano-Au-QCM) sensor and a piezoelectric transducer which enhances performance by production of ultrasonic standing waves (USW). Biotin-streptavidin binding is used as a model in experiments with the developed biochip to verify that nano-Au-QCM and USW enhancement greatly improves biochip detection sensitivity ( 2-fold) and reduces detection time (50%) by increasing the effective analyte concentration. The presented design shows good promise for development into a practical commercial system for enhanced real-time in situ detection of protein-ligand interactions in medical and pharmaceutical applications. © 2011 IEEE.