Fiber Optical Micro-detectors for Oxygen Sensing in Power Plants

A reflection mode fiber optic oxygen sensor that can operate at high temperatures for power plant applications is being developed. The sensor is based on the {sup 3}O{sub 2} quenching of the red emission from hexanuclear molybdenum chloride clusters. Previously we described a particle-in-binder approach to immobilizing the potassium salt of the molybdenum cluster, K{sub 2}Mo{sub 6}Cl{sub 14}, at the tips of optical fibers. Compared to previous methods, the particle-in-binder approach affords fibers with greatly improved mechanical properties. The response of the sensor to oxygen at 40, 70 and 100 C was measured in 2-21% gas phase oxygen. The normalized sensor signal is linear with molar oxygen concentration and fits the theoretical Stern-Volmer relationship. Although the sensitivity decreases with temperature, at 100 C the sensitivity is 160 [O{sub 2}]{sup -1}. These are promising results for a high temperature fiber optical oxygen sensor based on molybdenum chloride clusters