Physicochemical and statistical characterization of gas-sensing behaviors of resonator sensors with carbonaceous films prepared by rf-sputtering of aromatic and hydrophilic biomolecules

[Display omitted] •Radio-frequency sputtering of aromatic biomolecules and hydrophilic biopolymers.•Charactering adsorbent films by dependency on hydrocarbon length of adsorbates.•Multiple regression analyses by physicochemical molecular descriptors of adsorbates.•Molecular dynamics simulation on miscibility between adsorbates and cytosine film. Quartz crystal resonators coated with gas-sorptive films were characterized by analyzing their structures and their organic gas-sorption behaviors, which were then studied using statistics and computational molecular simulations. The films had carbonaceous structures that were prepared by radio-frequency (rf) sputtering of aromatic biomolecules, such as cytosine and lignin. These films had been compared with the rf-sputtered films of hydrophilic biopolymer of lignin and gelatin. The composition and morphology of each film governed the organic gas-sorption characteristics of the resonator sensors used for organic gas-sensing. The cytosine film, which was nitrogen-rich and layered, had a moderate affinity for the larger molecules of normal alcohols and acetate esters. The cytosine film is repulsive to positively-charged moieties of adsorbates. In contrast, the agarose film, which was nitrogen-poor and columnar, had a high affinity for small adsorbates with short hydrocarbon chains. Molecular flexibility of the adsorbate played an important role in the gas-sorption ability of the agarose film. Molecular dynamics simulation clarified that the weakly dipolar adsorbate-aggregate were immiscible in the cytosine adsorbent-aggregate because the collision mixture was prone to be instable. In practice, the cytosine-sputtered film had a higher gas-sorption ability for weakly dipolar species that have the longer hydrocarbon chains.