Optical fibre carbon dioxide (CO₂) sensors are reported in this article. The principle of operation of the sensors relies on the absorption of light transmitted through the fibre by a silica gel coating containing active dyes, including methyl red, thymol blue and phenol red. Stability of the sensor has been investigated for the first time for an absorption based CO₂ optical fiber sensor. Influence of the silica gel coating thickness on the sensitivity and response time has also been studied. The impact of temperature and humidity on the sensor performance has been examined too. Response times of reported sensors are very short and reach 2-3 s, whereas the sensitivity of the sensor ranges from 3 to 10 for different coating thicknesses. Reported parameters make the sensor suitable for indoor and industrial use.
Keywords: CO2 sensors; absorption-based sensors; chemical sensors; gas sensors; indicator dyes; optical fiber sensors; silica gels; sol-gel coatings.