There is described an electronic interface device (1) for reading an output signal and controlling and conditioning a three-electrode amperometric sensor (S). The device (1) may be used with a sensor having an electro-chemical cell comprising a reference electrode (RE) configured to supply a constant cell electric potential to the electrochemical cell; a working electrode (WE) at which oxidation or reduction reactions occur, connectable to a first reference voltage; and a collector electrode (CE) configured to deliver or receive electric charge carriers. In the electro-chemical cell, a cell impedance (Zcw) is always present between the working electrode (WE) and the collector electrode (CE).
The device (1) comprises an operational amplifier (U), having a non-inverting input (u1), adapted to receive a biasing electric potential (VBIAS) depending on the type of electrochemical reaction of the sensor, and an inverting input (u2) connectable to the reference electrode (RE) of the sensor. The operational amplifier is adapted to operate in a feedback configuration to supply the reference electrode (RE) with the aforementioned constant cell electric potential on the basis of the biasing electric potential (VBIAS).
The device (1) further comprises a first MOS transistor (M1), having a first MOS gate terminal (G1) connected to the output of the operational amplifier (U), a first MOS drain terminal (D1), connectable to a second reference voltage, and a first MOS source terminal (S1), connectable to the collector electrode CE of the sensor (S) to receive or supply a first MOS transistor channel current (I1) representative of (for example equal to) the cell current (I) which is generated in the amperometric sensor (S).
The device (1) further comprises a second MOS transistor (M2) having a second MOS gate terminal (G2) connected to the output of the operational amplifier (U) and to the aforementioned first MOS gate terminal (G1), a second MOS source terminal (S2), connectable to the first reference voltage by means of a first resistor (R1), and a second MOS drain terminal (D2), connectable to the second reference voltage (for example, through a resistor R2 which allows the reading of a voltage proportional to the current).
The value of the first resistor (R1) is lower than the cell impedance (Zcw) so that the second MOS transistor channel current (I2) depends on the first MOS transistor channel current (I1), representative of the cell current (I) of the sensor, through a nonlinear gain dependent at least on the value of the first resistor (R1).
The second MOS transistor (M2) is of the same type as the first MOS transistor (M1).
Also described is a method for reading an output and control signal of a three-electrode amperometric sensor, carried out by the aforementioned device.