Thick film titania sensors for detecting traces of oxygen

The development of pure titania and Nb-doped titania based sensors is reported. Active materials were synthesized via sol–gel and calcined at temperatures between 600 °C and 900 °C. The different materials were characterized by XRD, Raman, SEM and Area BET. The samples were then deposited on alumina substrates through a thick-film technique. A comparison of the response to traces of O2 in N2 balance of the different samples was carried out at working temperatures between 300 °C and 600 °C. The detection of oxygen traces (10 ppm) at a relatively low operating temperature (500 °C) is demonstrated.