Enhanced studies on the mechanism of gas selectivity and electronic interactions of SnO2/Na+-ionic conductors

The selectivity of metal oxide gas sensors (MOG) can be improved significantly by forming composites with solid ionic conductor additives. First investigations were done using model composites of SnO2/Natrium Super Ionic Conductor (NASICON) with the result of a huge sensitivity enhancement to substances ending with R–OH, R–HO or R–COOH groups and a reduction of sensitivity to other gas components. This selectivity of the new composite to those functional groups could be confirmed by catalytic conversion measurements with FTIR-spectroscopy at three gas components, respectively. The specific conductivity of the NASICON containing composites is significantly lower than that of pure SnO2. Advanced studies show that the activation energy of the bulk-conductivity increases by approximately 30% in the presence of NASICON. In spite of high volume parts of NASICON (20%), no polarization effects were found (a complete Ohmic current–voltage behavior) and mainly the resistive part of the electrical impedance is influenced.