Solid State Gas Sensors

Solid State Gas Sensing offers insight into the principles, applications, and new trends in gas sensor technology. Developments in this field are rapidly advancing due to the recent and continuing impact of nanotechnology, and this book addresses the demand for small, reliable, inexpensive and portable systems for monitoring environmental concerns, indoor air quality, food quality, and many other specific applications. Working principles, including electrical, permittivity, field effect, electrochemical, optical, thermometric and mass (both quartz and cantilever types), are discussed, making the book valuable and accessible to a variety of researchers and engineers in the field of material science.

Gas sensor products are very often the key to innovations in the fields of comfort, security, health, environment, and energy savings. This compendium focuses on what the research community labels as solid state gas sensors, where a gas directly changes the electrical properties of a solid, serving as the primary signal for the transducer. It starts with a visionary approach to how life in future buildings can benefit from the power of gas sensors. The requirements for various applications, such as for example the automotive industry, are then discussed in several chapters. Further contributions highlight current trends in new sensing principles, such as the use of nanomaterials and how to use new sensing principles for innovative applications in e.g. meteorology. So as to bring together the views of all the different groups needed to produce new gas sensing applications, renowned industrial and academic representatives report on their experiences and expectations in research, applications and industrialisation.

Research and development of solid state gas sensor devices began in the 1950s with several uncoordinated independent efforts. The number and pace of these investigations later accelerated in response to increasing pressure placed on the environment and public health by industrial activities. Since 1970, several thousand articles have been written on the subject, and laboratories around the globe have introduced novel methodologies and devices to address needs associated with particular technological developments. Despite the rapid development of this important new technology, very little has been done to review and coordinate data related to sensor science and technology itself. Physics, Chemistry and Technology of Solid State Gas Sensor Devices focuses on the underlying principles of solid state sensor operation and reveals the rich fabric of interdisciplinary science that governs modern sensing devices. Beginning with some historical and scientific background, the text proceeds to a study of the interactions of gases with surfaces. Subsequent chapters present detailed information on the fabrication, performance, and application of a variety of sensors. Types of sensor devices discussed include: Gas-sensitive solid state semiconductor sensors Photonic and photoacoustic gas sensors Fiber optic sensors Piezoelectric quartz crystal microbalance sensors Surface acoustic wave sensors Pyroelectric and thermal sensors For analytical chemists using solid state sensors in environment-related analysis, and for electrical engineers working with solid state sensors, this book will expand and unify their understanding of these devices, both in theory and practice.

An overview of the principles & current technology of the main sensor types used for flammable gas detection, oxygen monitoring in combustion & car-exhaust control. Also includes toxic gas monitoring. A companion volume to Techniques & Mechanisms in Gas Sensing.

The two volumes of Handbook of Gas Sensor Materials provide a detailed and comprehensive account of materials for gas sensors, including the properties and relative advantages of various materials. Since these sensors can be applied for the automation of myriad industrial processes, as well as for everyday monitoring of such activities as public safety, engine performance, medical therapeutics, and in many other situations, this handbook is of great value. Gas sensor designers will find a treasure trove of material in these two books.

Semiconductor Gas Sensors, Second Edition, summarizes recent research on basic principles, new materials and emerging technologies in this essential field. Chapters cover the foundation of the underlying principles and sensing mechanisms of gas sensors, include expanded content on gas sensing characteristics, such as response, sensitivity and cross-sensitivity, present an overview of the nanomaterials utilized for gas sensing, and review the latest applications for semiconductor gas sensors, including environmental monitoring, indoor monitoring, medical applications, CMOS integration and chemical warfare agents. This second edition has been completely updated, thus ensuring it reflects current literature and the latest materials systems and applications. Includes an overview of key applications, with new chapters on indoor monitoring and medical applications Reviews developments in gas sensors and sensing methods, including an expanded section on gas sensor theory Discusses the use of nanomaterials in gas sensing, with new chapters on single-layer graphene sensors, graphene oxide sensors, printed sensors, and much more

Solid State Chemical Sensors reviews the basic chemical and physical principles involved in the construction and operation of solid state sensors. A major portion of the book is devoted to explanation of the basic mechanism of operation and the many actual and potential applications of field effect transistors for gas and solution sensing. This text is comprised of four chapters; the first of which describes the basics of device fabrication. Emphasis is placed on the physical description of semiconductor devices with catalytic metal gates, along with their drawbacks and their promise. The behavior of hydrogen in the Pd-SiO2 system is also considered, and some applications of hydrogen-sensitive transistors, such as smoke detection and biochemical reaction monitoring, are described. The second chapter focuses on chemically sensitive field effect transistors and their thermodynamics, while the third chapter explains the general fabrication procedure for solid state chemical sensors. The final chapter introduces the reader to piezoelectric and pyroelectric chemical sensors, paying particular attention to the sensor nature of piezoelectricity, the piezoelectric gravimetric sensor, and pyroelectric gas analysis. This book is intended to assist electrical engineers in understanding the chemistry involved in the construction and operation of solid state sensors and to educate chemists in solid state science.

The two volumes of Handbook of Gas Sensor Materials provide a detailed and comprehensive account of materials for gas sensors, including the properties and relative advantages of various materials. Since these sensors can be applied for the automation of myriad industrial processes, as well as for everyday monitoring of such activities as public safety, engine performance, medical therapeutics, and in many other situations, this handbook is of great value. Gas sensor designers will find a treasure trove of material in these two books.

This book is a lucid presentation for chemists, electrical engineers, surface scientists, and solid-state physicists, of the fundamentals underlying the construction of simple and small chemical sensors. The first part of the book is a review of the theoretical background in solid state physics, chemistry and electronics. Semiconductor and solid electrolyte bulk models are reviewed as well as solid/gas and solid/liquid interface models. Membranes and catalysis theory are also covered expansively. The second part is a discussion of more complete sensor devices, their essential components, and of the important developments in this area over the last fifteen to twenty years. The book provides guidance through the multidisciplinary world of chemical sensors. It should be understandable to students with some training in physics and chemistry and a general knowledge of electronics. Finally, comments on economic considerations in the development of new sensor products and suggestionsfor future research and development should be of value to company R&D planners.

There were two reasons that induced me to plan and to organize this book, the first was the lack of a text entirely devoted to the subject of gas sensors, notwithstanding some books devoted to the various kind of chemical sensors have recently been published. The second reason was the need of introducing the basic topics of gas detection mechanisms to a growing number of researchers active in research and development laboratories of industries and uni versities. The field of chemical sensors is indeed in fast and consistent growth, as it is proved by the increased number of participants to the congresses that were recently held on this subject, namely the Third Meeting on Chemical Sensors (September 24 - 26, 1990, Cleveland), Transducers' 91 (June 24 - 27, 1991, S. Francisco) and EUROSENSORS V (September 30 - October 3, 1991, Rome). Therefore, this book is mainly intended as a reference text for researchers with a MS degree in physics, chemistry and electrical engineering; it reports the last progresses in the R. & D. and in the technology of gas sensors. I choose to deal specifically with the topic of gas sensors because these devices show a very large number of applications in the domestic and industrial field and they are characterized by a great effort of research and development.