NO2 MONITORING AS AN AIR POLLUTANT USING LEAD PHTHALOCYANINE THIN-FILM SENSORS

Lead phthalocyanine (PbPc) thin film sensors were used in this study to monitor the NO2 concentration as a polluting agent in a city atmosphere (Oulu, Finland). The conductance changes of PbPc sensors were recorded together with the readings of a commercial analyzing equipment based on chemiluminescence. At first the sensors were heated in a test chamber and air from outside of the lab was pumped into the chamber and the conductance changes were recorded. The correspondence between the conductance changes of PbPc sensors and the NO2 concentration values from the commercial analyzer was found to be good. In addition, a PbPc sensor with internal heating and measuring amplifier was installed directly at a city air pollution monitoring station where the NO2 concentration was recorded simultaneously by the commercial analyzer. The preliminary results support the conclusion that PbPc thin film sensors running at a constant temperature of 100-170-degrees-C may be useful for monitoring NO2 concentrations present as a pollutant in city air.