Investigation the effect of cerium oxide and nickel oxide dopants to yttria stabilized zirconia as gas sensor

Thick films of Ce-YSZ and Ni-YSZ were prepared by screen printing method and YSZ sensor sensitivity caused the addition of 10 mol% ceria and 1. 5 mol% nickel oxide (using the precursor of cerium nitrate and nickel nitrate) as dopants has been studied to ethanol gas. The electrical sensor was constructed with electrical connection by using silver adhesive and electric heater. Change in electrical conductivity was recorded in the presence of air and then the sensitivity of the samples examined in the presence of different amounts of gas and air. Regarding to the sensing results، cerium oxide dopant causes a better sensitivity than nickel oxide. Other advantages of using ceria as a dopant are the lower working temperature and less temperature sensitivity.