Nanostructured mixed oxides compounds for gas sensing applications

We present some recent trends about research on gas sensors based on semiconducting thin films based on Ti, W, and Mo mixed oxides. The structural, electrical and gas-sensing properties of these films, deposited by rf reactive sputtering from composite targets of W–Mo, Ti–W and Ti–Mo at different abundance, were investigated through electron microscopy and volt-amperometric techniques. All of these layers showed sensing capability toward CO, NO2 or ethanol. The thin films obtained were able to detect CO, NO2, and ethanol below the concentration limit for environmental-monitoring and breath-analysis application.