A new high-temperature pH sensor has been successfully developed by reforming the internal reference systems of the pH sensors based on oxygen-ion conducting ceramic membrane. The conventional internal reference system, a mixture of Ni and NiO, has been replaced with partially oxidized Ni powders, where Ni and NiO coexist on the surface of particles, in order to avoid the cumbersome mixing step of Ni and NiO particles. The partially oxidized Ni particles were made by oxidizing Ni under air atmosphere at $600^{circ}C$ and characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and FTIR spectroscopy. The viability of the pH sensor developed was assessed in boric acid (1000 ppm-B)/ lithium hydroxide (1 to 3 ppm-Li) buffer solutions at $280^{circ}C$. The pH sensor showed excellent accuracy with a small error less than ${pm}0.2$ pH units.