Specific, trace gas induced phase transition in copper(II)oxide for highly selective gas sensing

Abstract

Here, we present results on the investigation of the percolation phase transition in copper(II)oxide (CuO) and show how it may be used to determine trace gas concentrations. This approach provides a highly selective sensing mechanism for the detection of hydrogen sulfide even in oxygen depleted atmospheres. In real-world applications, this scenario is encountered in biogas plants and natural gas facilities, where reliable H2S sensing and filtering are important because of the destructive effects H2S has on machinery. As opposed to gas detection via standard metal-oxide reaction routes, the percolation dynamics are demonstrated to be independent of the surface morphology in accordance with the universality of phase transitions. The sensing behavior of ink-jet printed CuO layers was tested for a large set of parameters including layer temperature, hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and oxygen concentration, as well as the sensitivity towards other gas species. The electrical percolation of the sensing layer is heralded by a dramatic drop in the overall resistivity of the CuO layer for temperatures below 200 °C. The observed percolation phenomena in this temperature regime are unique to H2S even in comparison with related volatile thio-compounds making the sensing mechanism highly selective. At elevated temperatures above 300 °C, the phase transition does not occur. This enables two distinct operational modes which are tunable via the sensor temperature and also allows for resetting the sensing layer after an electrical breakthrough.