NASA Logo

NTRS

NTRS - NASA Technical Reports Server

Back to Results
Conductometric Sensors for Detection of Elemental Mercury VaporSeveral organic and inorganic materials have been tested for possible incorporation into a sensing array in order to add elemental mercury vapor to the suite of chemical species detected. Materials have included gold films, treated gold films, polymer-carbon composite films, gold-polymer-carbon composite films and palladium chloride sintered films. The toxicity of mercury and its adverse effect on human and animal health has made environmental monitoring of mercury in gas and liquid phases important (1,2). As consumer products which contain elemental mercury, such as fluorescent lighting, become more widespread, the need to monitor environments for the presence of vapor phase elemental mercury will increase. Sensors in use today to detect mercury in gaseous streams are generally based on amalgam formation with gold or other metals, including noble metals and aluminum. Recently, NASA has recognized a need to detect elemental mercury vapor in the breathing atmosphere of the crew cabin in spacecraft and has requested that such a capability be incorporated into the JPL Electronic Nose (3). The detection concentration target for this application is 10 parts-per-billion (ppb), or 0.08 mg/m3. In order to respond to the request to incorporate mercury sensing into the JPL Electronic Nose (ENose) platform, it was necessary to consider only conductometric methods of sensing, as any other transduction method would have required redesign of the platform. Any mercury detection technique which could not be incorporated into the existing platform, such as an electrochemical technique, could not be considered.
Document ID
20150008630
Acquisition Source
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Document Type
Conference Paper
External Source(s)
Authors
Ryan, M. A.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Homer, M. L.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Shevade, A. V.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Lara, L. M.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Yen, S.-P. S.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Kisor, A. K.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Manatt, K. S.
(Jet Propulsion Lab., California Inst. of Tech. Pasadena, CA, United States)
Date Acquired
May 20, 2015
Publication Date
October 12, 2008
Subject Category
Instrumentation And Photography
Meeting Information
Meeting: Pacific Rim Meeting on ELectrochemical and Solid-State Science (PRiME 2008)
Location: Honolulu, HI
Country: United States
Start Date: October 12, 2008
End Date: October 17, 2008
Sponsors: Electrochemical Society, Inc.
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Other
Keywords
mercury sensor
electronic nose

Available Downloads

There are no available downloads for this record.
No Preview Available