ABSTRACT
References ............................................................................................................ 750
19.1 INTRODUCTION
The quartz crystal microbalance (QCM) is a mass sensor with a resolution of less
than an atomic monolayer. The use of quartz crystals for this purpose was suggested
by Sauerbrey in 1958 (1). Soon, they were in wide spread use as rate monitors in
vacuum deposition systems. Initially, the heavy damping impeded their use as sensors
in liquid systems. Operation in liquids was obtained in the early 1980s (2, 3); since
then, the number of applications in solution has increased rapidly. The electrochem-
ical quartz crystal microbalance (EQCM) uses one of the thin film electrodes of a
QCM as an anode or a cathode in an electrochemical cell. This arrangement permits
the study of different electrochemical phenomena in situ. One of the first applications
with this arrangement was electrodeposition of silver (2). In the field of corrosion, the
(E)QCM has found a wide range of applications; for example, atmospheric corro-
sion, general corrosion in solution, corrosion inhibition, and passive film growth.
