Fabrication and characteristics of NOx gas sensors using WO3 and In2O3 thick films to monitor air pollution

With the increasing number of automobiles, the problem of air pollution from the exhaust gases of automobiles has become a critical issue. The principal gases that cause air pollution are nitrogen oxide or NO$_x$(NO and NO$_2$), and CO. Because NO$_x$ gases cause acid rain and global warming and produce ozone(O$_3$) that leads to serious metropolitan smog from photochemical reaction, they must be detected and reduced. Mixtures of WO$_3$ and $In_2O_3$(WO$_3$:$In_2O_3$=10:0, 7:3, 5:5, 3:7, and 0:10 in wt.%), which are NO$_x$ gas-sensing materials, were prepared, and thick-film gas sensors that included a heater and a temperature sensor were fabricated. Their sensitivity to NO$_x$ was measured at 250$\sim$400$^{\circ}C$ for NO$_x$ concentrations of 1$\sim$5 ppm. The $In_2O_3$ thick-film sensor showed excellent sensitivity($R_{gas}/R_{air}$=10.22) at 300$^{\circ}C$ to 5-ppm NO. The response time for 70 % saturated sensitivity was about 3 seconds, and the sensors exhibited very fast reactivity to NO$_x$.