Chemical Sensors

Increasing environmental pressures to regulate emission gases has created an explicit requirement for the development of chemical sensors and sensor arrays to detect gases such as CO/CO 2, NO x, H 2S, and SO x, within high-temperature environments (>500°C). These sensors will enable an inexpensive implementation of sensor nets for in situ gas testing for three-dimensional fuel and emission maps within various industrial energy applications, such as current coal-fired power plants. The micro-sensors may also be applied within future Integrated Combined Cycle Gasification (IGCC) systems and direct-coal fuel cell generator systems, providing instantaneous feedback on fuel utilization and emission control systems.

Current chemical sensors based on chromatography, electrochemistry, and spectroscopy are not available to suit the desired application, cost, and performance within the proposed high temperature and harsh chemical environmental targets. Our research investigates chemi-resistive sensors that are based on stable high-temperature, semiconducting oxides which demonstrate a change in resistance due to surface interaction with select chemical species. In order to achieve the above-mentioned performance and application targets, our work concurrently addresses issues relating to sensor stability, selectivity, and miniaturization of the chemi-resistive sensors.