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Solid-state electrochemical gas sensors

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Abstract

The solid-state electrochemical principle has been a selective and accurate way of sensing chemical components in various environments, including liquid metal, for an extended period of time. Since after Carl Wagner’s interpretation of zirconia, there appeared many advances in chemical sensor applications. The electrochemical techniques for the chemical measurements have, in general, several major advantages compared to other methods. The information of interest is directly converted into electrical signal which may be employed in electronic circuits. Electrochemical measurements are always selective for the quantities that undergo the electrochemical redox reaction. In most cases, reactions at equilibrium are considered, but techniques have also been developed to be able to use kinetic limit. Furthermore, the signal is independent of materials properties, such as the ionic conductivity or impurity as long as it is a predominant ionic conductor. Depending on the type of application, voltage or current measurements are employed. While potentiometric method commonly allows measuring chemical species over a wide range of concentration, amperometric sensors generally cover a quite limited range but have a much higher resolution. In this paper, various principles of electrochemical techniques to measure the chemical quantities are introduced. And there are many examples of the status of researches on electrochemical sensors, such as oxygen sensor, carbon dioxide sensor, NO x sensor, SO x sensor, and hydrogen sensor.

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Acknowledgments

The work was partially supported by a Grant from the Ministry of Education, Science, Sports, and Culture of Japan. The authors also wish to thank Prof. W. Weppner for the helpful discussion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, 305-701, Korea

    C. O. Park, Jinsu Park & Angi Choi

  2. Materials Research and Education Center, Auburn University, 201 Ross Hall, Auburn, AL, 36849-5341, USA

    J. W. Fergus

  3. Art, Science, and Technology Center for Cooperative Research, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka, 816-8580, Japan

    N. Miura

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  2. J. W. Fergus
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Correspondence to Jinsu Park.

Glossary

Solid electrolyte

A solid which carries currents mainly by ions.

Potentiometric sensor

An electrochemical sensor which transforms chemical concentration into the electrical voltage.

Amperometric sensor

An electrochemical sensor which measures the chemical concentration by the limiting currents resulting from the chemical species to be detected.

Mixed potential

The potential where the rate of anodic reaction equals to the rate of cathodic reaction.

emf

Electromotive forces.

Galvanic cell

A cell which converts chemical energy to electrical energy.

IR drop

A non-equilibrium potential drop occurring in an electrolyte due to the resistance of electrolyte.

Open-circuit voltage

A voltage measured across the galvanic cell when no currents pass through the cell.

Over-potential

The difference between the applied potential and the equilibrium potential.

Isotherm

The amount of adsorbates as a function of gas pressure at a constant temperature.

Perovskite

Oxides which exhibit ABO3 arrangement.

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Park, C.O., Fergus, J.W., Miura, N. et al. Solid-state electrochemical gas sensors. Ionics 15, 261–284 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11581-008-0300-6

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