Synthesis, Characterization and Enhanced Sensing Properties of a NiO/ZnO p–n Junctions Sensor for the SF6 Decomposition Byproducts SO2, SO2F2, and SOF2

Abstract

The detection of partial discharge and analysis of the composition and content of sulfur hexafluoride SF6 gas components are important to evaluate the operating state and insulation level of gas-insulated switchgear (GIS) equipment. This paper reported a novel sensing material made of pure ZnO and NiO-decorated ZnO nanoflowers which were synthesized by a facile and environment friendly hydrothermal process for the detection of SF6 decomposition byproducts. X-ray diffraction (XRD), field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) were used to characterize the structural and morphological properties of the prepared gas-sensitive materials. Planar-type chemical gas sensors were fabricated and their gas sensing performances toward the SF6 decomposition byproducts SO2, SO2F2, and SOF2 were systemically investigated. Interestingly, the sensing behaviors of the fabricated ZnO nanoflowers-based sensor to SO2, SO2F2, and SOF2 gases can be obviously enhanced in terms of lower optimal operating temperature, higher gas response and shorter response-recovery time by introducing NiO. Finally, a possible gas sensing mechanism for the formation of the p–n junctions between NiO and ZnO is proposed to explain the enhanced gas response. All results demonstrate a promising approach to fabricate high-performance gas sensors to detect SF6 decomposition byproducts.

Electrochemical and Infrared Absorption Spectroscopy Detection of SF6 Decomposition Products

“…These detection methods are used to analyze the components and concentrations of such products and ultimately to deduce the partial discharge type and severity. The methods include gas chromatography, mass spectrometry, infrared (IR) spectroscopy, electrochemical sensing (ES), gas detector tubes, ion mobility spectrometry, and carbon nanotubes, among other methods [ 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 ]. However, these detection methods still generally depend on regular field sampling and complete quantitative analysis of SF 6 decomposition products in the laboratory.…”

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Flake-Flower NiO and Its Gas Sensing Performance to CO

“…As one of the most important fault characteristic gases of oil immersed transformer, carbon monoxide (CO), has received considerable attention for its application to provide vital help for judging the operation state of transformer (Zhou et al, 2015(Zhou et al, , 2018aYang et al, 2019b). In this respect, to detect and analyze the dissolved gases, many strategies have been proposed, for instance, gas chromatography, photoacoustic spectrometry and gas sensor (Qu et al, 2016;Liu et al, 2017;Wei et al, 2019b). Among these methods, the design of gas sensor has attracted numerous interest, owing to its low cost, facile route and simple structure (Wang et al, 2019a;Zargouni et al, 2019).…”

Morphological Characteristics of Molybdenum Disulfide and Current Application on Detecting SF6 Decomposing Products

“…Sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) is a non-color, tasteless, and non-flammable insulating gas, which is widely known for applications in gas insulated switchgear (GIS) (Lu et al, 2018;Lu et al, 2019). Although GIS has advantage of high stability, insulation faults such as partial discharge, breakdown discharge, and spark discharge inevitably occur during a long running process (Zeng et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2017), which will lead to the decomposition of the SF 6 gas into various sulfur fluorides, including H 2 S, SO 2 , SO 2 F 2 , and SOF 2 etc. (Wei et al, 2020).…”