A carbonaceous chemical filter for the selective detection of NO2 in the environment

Abstract

In order to achieve the selective detection of NO2 in the environment, a chemical filter is added to a semiconductor gas sensor that is very sensitive to oxidizing gases in the gas flow. The aim is to remove ozone (O3), the main interfering oxidizing gas for NO2 detection before its measurement by a phthalocyanine sensor. The first parameter for the carbon material as a filter is the specific surface area (SSA), which should be high enough to ensure interaction with O3 and low enough to avoid interaction with NO2. The key role of surface oxygenated groups and dangling bonds was underlined by NEXAFS and EPR, respectively. A mixture of nanocones/nanodiscs (20/70%w/w) with SSA of 30m2g−1 with both structural and electronic defects is found to be the most efficient filter and was used upstream of a phthalocyanine sensor. The lifetime of the chemical filter was investigated and a strategy to increase it is described. Raman spectroscopy, EPR and NEXAFS allow the reactivity of the carbon with NO2 and O3 in the 10–1000ppb concentration range to be studied.