V2O5 Thin Films as Nitrogen Dioxide Sensors

V2O5 thin films were deposited onto insulating support (either fused silica or alumina) by means of rf reactive sputtering from a metallic vanadium target. Argon-oxygen gas mixtures of different compositions controlled by the flow rates were used for sputtering. X-ray diffraction at glancing incidence (GIXD) and Scanning Electronic Microscopy (SEM) were used for structural and phase characterization. Optical transmittance and reflectance spectra were recorded with a Lambda 19 Perkin-Elmer double spectrophotometer. Thickness of the films was determined from the profilometry. It has been confirmed by GIXD that the deposited films are composed of V2O5 phase. The estimated optical band gap was ca. 2.5 eV. The gas sensing properties of V2O5 thin films were investigated at RT-690 K towards NO2 gas of 0–20 ppm. The results indicated that material exhibited good response and reversibility towards nitrogen dioxide.