Low-Temperature Hydrogen Sensor: Enhanced Performance Enabled through Photoactive Pd-Decorated TiO2Colloidal Crystals

Abstract

The high demand for H2 gas sensors is not just limited to industrial process control and leak detection applications but also extends to the food and medical industry to determine the presence of various types of bacteria or underlying medical conditions. For instance, sensing of H2 at low concentrations (<10 ppm) is essential for developing breath analyzers for the noninvasive diagnosis of some gastrointestinal diseases. However, there are major challenges to overcome in order to achieve high sensitivity and hence low limit of detection (LoD) toward H2. In this study, it is demonstrated that light-assisted amperometric gas sensors employing sensitive layers based on Pd-decorated TiO2 long-range ordered crystals can achieve excellent H2 sensing performance. This unique combination of materials and novel layered structure enables the detection of H2 gas down to 50 ppm with highly promising LoD capabilities. The sensor response profiles revealed that the sensor's signal-to-noise ratio was higher in the presence of light when operated with a 9 V bias (relative to other conditions used), producing a LoD of only 3.5 ppm at an operating temperature of 33 °C. The high performance of the sensor makes it attractive for applications that require low-level (ppm as opposed to conventional % levels) H2 gas detection. Most importantly, the developed sensor exhibited high selectivity (>93%) toward H2 over other gas species such as CO2, C4H8O, C3H6O, CH3CHO, and NO, which are commonly found to coexist in the environment.