Identification of micro-scale calorimetric devices: Part V. Basic properties for gas-solid reactions

Abstract

Micro-calorimetric devices using Si-based sensors are very useful for the study of gas-solid reactions, in which very low mass of reactants are necessary. But in fact the consequence of using flat detectors is an increase of the uncertainty in the measured energy. In this work a calorimetric gas sensor based on Xensor chip is analysed studying the local x-y contributions of dissipation to the sensitivity related to the value in the centre. We study also the effects of the gas-flow on the sensitivity, comparing the results obtained with two Xensor type chips. Finally we carry out a deeper analysis of the x-y effects on the calorimetric detector for dissipations in the reactant shell extremely close to the detector surface to visualize the link between the power density distribution and the output signal. © 2006 Springer-Verlag.