Oil spill in sea water is the most frequent and significant problem of marine pollution. As an early detection sensor of the pollution, an activated carbon coated quartz crystal is prepared and examined for its performance of detection sensitivity and stability. Powdered activated carbon and phenol resin is coated on the surface of the sensor and the sensor is baked for an hour. Adsorption of acetone dissolved in water and salt water is measured using frequency shift of quartz crystal at different concentrations of solute material. The outcome indicates that the sensor preparation is adequate and the measurement of solute concentration is stable and sensitive enough to be implemented on the monitoring of solute concentration is stable and sensitive enough to be implemented in the monitoring of organic pollution of sea water.

A quartz crystal analyzer is utilized to monitor the corrosion process of an aluminum surface of a quartz crystal for marine sensor by sea water. A quartz crystal having 2000 a of aluminum layer is installed in a specially designed cell and is in contact with sea water imitated electrolyte solution. While a constant potential is applied to the cell, the resonant frequency and resonant resistance are simultaneously measured using the quartz crystal analyzer. In addition, surface topographs are taken with an atomic force microscope(AFM) and the element analysis of the surface is conducted using an energy dispersive X-ray spectrometer(EDX). The simultaneous measurement of resonant frequency and resonant resistance during the corrosion process explains the change of surface structure caused by the corrosion. The variation of resonant frequency addresses the amount surface metal dissolution. As a conclusion, it is found that a simple measurement using the quartz crystal analyzer can replace the complex monitoring employing large equipments in the investigation of a corrosion process of sensor surface.