Method for operating a sensor element (112) for detecting at least one
oxygen fraction of an
exhaust gas (113) in an exhaust tract, wherein the sensor element (112) comprises at least one pump
cell (114) with at least two pump electrodes (118) connected to each other by at least one
solid electrolyte (116), wherein the pump electrodes (118) comprise a first pump
electrode and a second pump
electrode, wherein the first pump
electrode is arranged as an inner pump electrode (124) in a cavity of the sensor element (112) and can be exposed to the
exhaust gas (113) via a
diffusion barrier (121), wherein the second pump electrode is an exhaust air electrode (119) which can be connected to
ambient air (125) via an exhaust air duct (123), wherein at least one
measured quantity is detected in the method, wherein the
measured quantity is a pump current (Ip) between the first and the second electrode, which represents a
limiting current, and wherein at least one compensation quantity is determinedwherein the compensation quantity is at least partially dependent on capacitive effects at at least one junction between at least one of the pump electrodes (118) and the
solid electrolyte (116), namely a charging current (Δlp) between the first and the second electrode, which is determined by measuring at least one
time course of at least one electrical
voltage across at least one electrochemical double layer U, dl (t) is determined using the
time course of the electrical
voltage across the electrochemical double layer U dl (t) and at least one electrode
capacitance C IPE using the formula Δ I p = ∂ Q ∂ t = CIPE ∂ U dl ∂ t ΔIp where at least one corrected
measured quantity (Ip) is obtained from the measured quantity and the compensation quantity. korr ) is determined using the formula IP korr = Ip - ΔIp, where the corrected measured quantity (Ip) korr) the
oxygen content in the
exhaust gas (113) is determined.