Deposition of tungsten oxide and silver decorated tungsten oxide for use in oxygen gas sensing

Tungsten oxide and silver-decorated tungsten oxide were investigated for the detection of oxygen in a humid environment. The sensor materials were deposited onto alumina sensor substrates via aerosol-assisted chemical vapour deposition. Results indicated that our sensors showed good sensitivity to oxygen, following an almost a linear relationship over a 0 to 20% concentration range. In comparison to WO
₃
, the Ag-decorated sensors showed a much higher sensitivity and better response (sensitivity of 0.22 per %O
₂
vs 0.80 per %O
₂
for Ag decorated), making Ag-WO
₃
based sensors an interseting alternative to existing Pb-based sensors for quantitative oxygen sensing.