Potentiometric NO2 Sensors Based on Thin Stabilized Zirconia Electrolytes and Asymmetric (La0.8Sr0.2)0.95MnO3 Electrodes

Jie Zou; Yangong Zheng; Junliang Li; Zhongliang Zhan; Jiawen Jian

doi:10.3390/s150717558

Potentiometric NO2 Sensors Based on Thin Stabilized Zirconia Electrolytes and Asymmetric (La0.8Sr0.2)0.95MnO3 Electrodes

Sensors (Basel). 2015 Jul 20;15(7):17558-71. doi: 10.3390/s150717558.

Authors

Jie Zou^{1

2}, Yangong Zheng³, Junliang Li², Zhongliang Zhan⁴, Jiawen Jian⁵

Affiliations

¹ Gas Sensors & Sensing Technology Laboratory, College of Information Science and Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China. ljl2005@mail.sic.ac.cn.
² CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SICCAS), Shanghai 200050, China. ljl2005@mail.sic.ac.cn.
³ Gas Sensors & Sensing Technology Laboratory, College of Information Science and Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China. zhengyangong@nbu.edu.cn.
⁴ CAS Key Laboratory of Materials for Energy Conversion, Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SICCAS), Shanghai 200050, China. zzhan@mail.sic.ac.cn.
⁵ Gas Sensors & Sensing Technology Laboratory, College of Information Science and Engineering, Ningbo University, Ningbo 315211, China. jianjiawen@nbu.edu.cn.

Abstract

Here we report on a new architecture for potentiometric NO2 sensors that features thin 8YSZ electrolytes sandwiched between two porous (La0.8Sr0.2)0.95MnO3 (LSM95) layers-one thick and the other thin-fabricated by the tape casting and co-firing techniques. Measurements of their sensing characteristics show that reducing the porosity of the supporting LSM95 reference electrodes can increase the response voltages. In the meanwhile, thin LSM95 layers perform better than Pt as the sensing electrode since the former can provide higher response voltages and better linear relationship between the sensitivities and the NO2 concentrations over 40-1000 ppm. The best linear coefficient can be as high as 0.99 with a sensitivity value of 52 mV/decade as obtained at 500 °C. Analysis of the sensing mechanism suggests that the gas phase reactions within the porous LSM95 layers are critically important in determining the response voltages.

Keywords: NO2; gas-phase reaction; lanthanum strontium manganite; sensors; yttria-stabilized zirconia.