UV regulation of non-equilibrated electrochemical reaction for detecting aromatic volatile organic compounds

Analysis of aromatic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by gas sensors is of utmost important for environmental monitoring and human health. Nevertheless, most of the reported sensors suffer the problem of undesirable detection limit & poor performance in high humid conditions. We have studied the impact of UV illumination on non-equilibrium electrochemical reactions. Such a principle was applied to yttria-stabilized zirconia-based gas sensors, which have been used in many practical applications. Typically, 2 fold increase in the sensing magnitude and sensitivity was achieved with UV illumination. With the contribution of UV light, the sensor also maintains its high-performance even at relative low operating temperatures. Besides, the performance of the sensor was hardly affected by a change in humidity even without upon the UV illumination. These results disclose a new type of sensing principle based on the solid-state sensing device, with desirable performance for a variety of possible detection and/or clinic applications.

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