AAAR 32nd Annual Conference
September 30 - October 4, 2013
Oregon Convention Center
Portland, Oregon, USA
Abstract View
Quantification Methods for Metal-Oxide Semiconductor Gas Sensors
NICHOLAS MASSON, Ricardo Piedrahita, Xiang Yun, Michael Hannigan, Qin Lv, Robert Dick, Li Shang, University of Colorado at Boulder
Abstract Number: 603 Working Group: Portable and Inexpensive Sensor Technology for Air Quality Monitoring
Abstract Metal-oxide semiconductor (MOx) sensors offer promising advantages in the growing field of remote air quality monitoring. Specifically, MOx technology enables the widespread dissemination of small, inexpensive monitors, allowing researchers and citizens to ask new and compelling questions. Despite their advantages, commercially available MOx sensors present many practical difficulties. Sensor responses are highly non-linear with respect to the pollutant of interest, and exhibit complex coupling with interference species, temperature, and, to a lesser degree, humidity. Here we present a generalized, empirical model to quantify MOx sensor responses with compensation for temperature and inter-sensor variability. Lab experiments and knowledge of general semiconductor characteristics were used in deriving the model, which was then verified using ambient data from a colocation with reference instruments. Methods are also proposed for calibrating MOx sensors in a cost and time effective manner.