Porous gas diffusion electrodes are advantageous for amperometric gas sensors because of the increased total catalytic activity. However, the interfacial charging process may drag the sensor response. In this work, the transient following sudden changes in the gas composition is analyzed using a transmission line model and digital simulation for the sensor working in the potentiostatic mode. The 90 % response time governed by this process is found to be 0.83rCL 2 , where r, C and L are the speci®c ionic resistance, speci®c capacitance and thickness of the porous electrode, respectively. The theoretical results are compared favorably with experimental ®ndings and the guidelines for shortening this transient are suggested accordingly.