Temperature dependence of viscosity and density of viscous liquids determined from thermal noise spectra of uncalibrated atomic force microscope cantilevers

We demonstrate that the thermal response of uncalibrated atomic force microscope cantilevers can be used to extract the density and the viscosity of viscous liquids with good accuracy. Temperature dependent thermal noise spectra were measured in water/poly(ethylene glycol) mixtures. Empirical parameters characteristic of the resonance behavior of the system were extracted from data recorded for one of the solutions at room temperature. These parameters were then employed to determine both viscosity and density values of the solutions simultaneously at different temperatures. In addition, activation energies for viscous flow were determined from the viscosity values obtained. The method presented is both fast and reliable and has the potential to be applied in connection with microfluidic systems, making macroscopic amounts of liquid and separate measurements with a viscometer and a densimeter redundant.