Relationship between electrical conductivity of metal oxide sensor and catalytic conversion of substances

Metal-oxide-semiconductor gas sensors are widely used in instruments for environmental protection. The selection of a suitable semiconductor material with proper sensitivity and selectivity is generally made empirically. The regularities stated in oxidation catalyses allow the sensor operating mechanism to be understood and the properties of the sensor to be adjusted. This paper considers the heterogeneous reaction modelling the mechanism of such processes as the dissociative chemisorption of molecular oxygen with the subsequent recombination of oxygen atoms and oxygen desorption.