HUMIDITY AND TEMPERATURE EFFECTS ON THE RESPONSE TO ETHYLENE OF AN AMPEROMETRIC SENSOR UTILIZING A GOLD-NAFION ELECTRODE

The response to ethylene of chemically deposited gold-Nafion electrode s was found to increase as the real surface area of the electrode was increased. However, humidity was found to lower the sensitivity of the electrode to ethylene. For larger electrode surface areas the humidit y dependence of the sensor response to ethylene was found to increase. As well as the surface area, the method used to fabricate the gold-Na fion electrode strongly influenced the humidity dependence. The respon se to ethylene on a vapor deposited electrode showed only a negligible humidity influence which may make this method mon suitable for the fa brication of electrodes. The temperature dependence, for both chemical ly and vapor deposited electrodes, was found to be a 1% decrease in re sponse to ethylene per degrees C decrease in temperature.