From the Modeling of an Electrochemical YSZ-Based Gas Sensor Used in Electrolysis Mode

Abstract

Electrochemical sensors have been used for many decades. However, the modeling of such sensors used in electrolysis mode is poorly documented, especially in the case of multiple gases’ parallel actions. These are of great interest since they constitute the first brick to bring information on the natures and concentrations of gaseous mixture compositions, thanks to gray box modeling of sensor arrays, for example. Based on Butler–Volmer’s equations, a model assuming parallel reactions at gold cathode has been introduced in this article and confronted with experimental results. The establishment of the model is based on the extraction of three variables: the charge transfer coefficient “α”, the reaction order γ, and the reaction constant rate k0. Tests performed without pollutants and with different concentrations of oxygen could be nicely fitted using the model. The influence of the polarization current on the three variables of the model has been evaluated, showing a clear influence on the constant rate and the reaction order. Moreover, increasing the polarization current enabled us to obtain selectivity for oxidant gases. Similarly, the effect of the oxygen concentration was evaluated. Results showed that, in this case, the charge transfer coefficients “α” obtained for oxidant gases are quite different from the ones obtained in the polarization current varying conditions. Therefore, the model will be interesting in situations where polarization current and oxygen content are not varied together. Variation of polarization current can be quite interesting to obtain increased information for multivariate analysis purposes in constant oxygen content situations. Additionally, other parameters have to be considered for applications in which the oxygen content is bound to change, such as exhaust gases or combustion.