Detection of offensive odorant in air with a planar-type potentiometric gas sensor based on YSZ with Au and Pt electrodes

A potentiometric gas sensor with a planar-type structure was fabricated and used to detect some offensive odorants in harsh environments such as ammonia, trimethyl-amine, methyl mercaptan and hydrogen sulfide. The electrode potential of the planar type sensor with a (Au/YSZ)|YSZ|(Pt/YSZ) structure responded to such compounds at sub-ppm levels. The sensitivity at 450 °C was in the order of methyl mercaptan > hydrogen sulfide > ammonia > trimethylamine.