Use of the Nasicon/Na2SO4 couple in a solid state sensor for SOx (x=2,3)

The e.m.f. of a concentration cell for SO x (x=2,3)-O2 incorporating Nasicon as the main solid electrolyte has been measured in the temperature range 720 to 1080 K. The cell arrangement can be represented as,$$Pt, O'_2 + SO'_2 + SO'_3 \left| {Na_2 SO_4 \left\| {\left. {Nasicon} \right\|} \right.} \right.\left. {Na_2 SO_4 } \right|SO''_3 + SO''_2 + O''_2 , Pt$$ The Na2SO4 acts both as an auxiliary electrode, converting chemical potentials of SO x and O2 to equivalent sodium potentials, and as an electrolyte. The presence of Na2SO4 provides partial protection of Nasicon from chemical reaction with gas mixtures containing SO x . The open circuit e.m.f. of the cell is in close agreement with values given by the Nernst equation. For certain fixed inlet gas compositions of SO2+O2, the e.m.f. varies non-linearly with temperature. The intrinsic response time of the cell to step changes in gas composition is estimated to vary from sim2.0 ksec at 723K to sim 0.2 ksec at 1077K. The cell functions well for large differences in partial pressures of SO3(pPrimeSO 3/pprimeSO 3ap104) at the electrodes.