The objective of this research project is to determine the feasibility of detecting combustible gases at elevated temperatures directly from the change in work function of a thin metal film. A broad spectrum of environmentally important inorganic and organic species have been selected for systematic investigations on promising noble-metal films. The sensing mechanism is believed to involve oxygen activation of the metal surface prior to combustion, which provides unique flexibility for developing novel combustible-gas analyzers. Research activities will be focused primarily on determinations of the sensor sensitivity, selectivity, dynamic range, response time, and optimum operating temperature range. The changes in work function will be detected using an elevated-temperature Kelvin-probe module already under development by the Arizona Instrument Corporation. Success in the research will potentially lead to the commercialization of a new class of compact, versatile combustible-gas sensors and/or sensor arrays incorporating a degree of sensitivity, selectivity, speed of response and stability not previously possible.The potential commercial application as described by the awardee: Successful development of such sensing technology would have many commercial applications, including monitoring and control instrumentation in the oil and gas industries, fossil-fuel energy conversion plants, waste-management technology involving such environmental concerns as underground storage tank leakage and gaseous discharges from incinerators, and novel detectors for laboratory instrumentation such as gas chromatography.
