Ethanol sensor using gadolinia-doped ceria solid electrolyte and double perovskite structure sensing material

Mixed potential gadolinia-doped ceria (GDC)-based gas sensors using a double perovskite composite oxide (Sr2NiMoO6) were fabricated to detect ethanol. The influence of the sensing materials sintered at different temperatures on the sensor properties was investigated. The results showed that Sr2NiMoO6 annealed at 1000 °C was the most suitable sensing material for detecting ethanol due to its suitable micromorphology and high electrochemical catalytic activity. The sensor attached with Sr2NiMoO6-1000 °C displayed the highest sensitivity to 1–200 ppm ethanol at 550 °C, the response value ΔV was piecewise linearly with the logarithm of ethanol concentration, and the slopes were −8 and −51.3 mV/decade in the ranges of 1–10 ppm and 10–200 ppm ethanol, respectively. Moreover, the stability and sensing mechanism of the sensor were also investigated. •Double perovskite type oxide Sr2NiMoO6 was utilized to fabricate Ce0.8Gd0.2O1.95-based mixed potential type gas sensor.•Sr2NiMoO6 sensing material exhibited high response towards ethanol.•The influence of sintering temperature of Sr2NiMoO6 on the sensing performance was mainly discussed.