FILM TYPE SOLID POLYMER IONOMER SENSOR AND SENSOR CELL

摘要

A miniaturized gas sensor including film type electrodes, and a solid ionomer (5) electrolyte, for the detection of toxic gases, i.e., carbon monoxide, and other oxidizable or reducible gases and vapors is described. The all solid planar sensor cell has two or more film type electrodes arranged on a non conductive planar surface of a supportive material. The electrodes (3, 7, 8) are discrete and in intimate contact with the same solid polymer ionomer membrane. The sensor cell contains no liquid electrolyte and is operated in a potentiostatic or potentiodynamic mode. The unique feature of the sensor cell is that high sensitivity to a select gas or vapor is achieved by a novel three-phase contact area (2) design for a sensing electrode (3) which is easily accessible to the gas sample via small diffusion openings (6) or holes that penetrate through the solid polymer ionomer membrane layer above the sensing electrode. A significant signal to background noise enhancement is achieved for these film type sensor cells by processes that increase the three phase contact area.