2023•Nuclear Engineering and DesignOpen access
Research and development of gas electrode potential oxygen sensors in saturated oxygen liquid LBE
Ruixian Liang, Huiping Zhu, Zhangpeng Guo, Zhenhua Sheng, Hui Li, Xu Tu, Muran Qi, Hao Wu, Wentao Guo, Haicai Lyu, Fenglei Niu, Yang Liu, Fang Liu
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Abstract
Oxygen sensors play a crucial role in the effective operation of the Active Oxygen Control System (OCS) in liquid LBE systems. In this study, the performance of LSCF/air, LSM/air and Pt/air reference electrode sensors with yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) as the solid electrolyte in the static oxygen saturated liquid lead bismuth eutectic alloy (LBE) was evaluated with varying temperature range by measuring the electromotive force. Compared with the activation temperature of Pt electrode sensor (420 °C), the activation temperature of LSCF electrode and LSM electrode sensor is as low as 320 °C. The LSCF/air and LSM/air sensors show good performance in the high and low temperature tests. However, the electrochemical balance of the Pt/air reference sensor has an irreversible effect at the lowest temperature, leading to the sensor malfunction. During the temperature transient process, the electromotive force (EMF) measured by the sensor shows a deviation from the theoretical value. Besides, the LSCF/air reference sensor has the smallest deviation and the Pt/air reference sensor has the largest deviation. Therefore, the LSCF electrode sensor exhibits best performance in the low operating temperature region.