Thin film vacuum deposition technology has been considered with respect to the production of electrodes for electrochemical gas sensors. Electrodes, employing Pt and Au as catalytic agents, are produced by Magnetron Sputtering (MS) co-deposition of graphite/noble metal. Once inserted in the sensor as working electrodes, the resultant amorphous carbon (a-C)–noble metal nanocomposite layers are shown to meet such requirements as sensitivity to a range of gases, linear response, reasonable (≈30 s) response time and good signal-to-noise ratio (inferred from the relatively weak temperature dependence of the background current). The time stability of the new (Pt based) electrodes was checked by letting the electrode work inside a sensor over a period of 3 months. No morphological or compositional change was observed for such “aged” electrodes asì compared to “as-deposited” ones
a-C/Me (Me=Pt, Au) Nanocomposite Films for Electrochemical Gas Sensors
Baranov, Alexandr;Calliari, Lucia;Speranza, Giorgio;Minati, Luca;
2007-01-01
Abstract
Thin film vacuum deposition technology has been considered with respect to the production of electrodes for electrochemical gas sensors. Electrodes, employing Pt and Au as catalytic agents, are produced by Magnetron Sputtering (MS) co-deposition of graphite/noble metal. Once inserted in the sensor as working electrodes, the resultant amorphous carbon (a-C)–noble metal nanocomposite layers are shown to meet such requirements as sensitivity to a range of gases, linear response, reasonable (≈30 s) response time and good signal-to-noise ratio (inferred from the relatively weak temperature dependence of the background current). The time stability of the new (Pt based) electrodes was checked by letting the electrode work inside a sensor over a period of 3 months. No morphological or compositional change was observed for such “aged” electrodes asì compared to “as-deposited” onesI documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.