Joule Heating a Palladium Nanowire Sensor for Accelerated Response and Recovery to Hydrogen Gas

The properties of a single heated palladium (Pd) nanowire for the detection of hydrogen gas (H₂) are explored. In these experiments, a Pd nanowire, 48–98 µm in length, performs three functions in parallel: 1) Joule self‐heating is used to elevate the nanowire temperature by up to 128 K, 2) the 4‐contact wire resistance in the absence of H₂ is used to measure its temperature, and 3) the nanowire resistance in the presence of H₂ is correlated with its concentration, allowing it to function as a H₂ sensor. Compared with the room‐temperature response of a Pd nanowire, the response of the heated nanowire to hydrogen is altered in two ways: First, the resistance change (ΔR/R₀) induced by H₂ exposure at any concentration is reduced by a factor of up to 30 and second, the rate of the resistance change – observed at the beginning (“response”) and at the end (“recovery”) of a pulse of H₂ – is increased by more than a factor of 50 at some H₂ concentrations. Heating nearly eliminates the retardation of response and recovery seen from 1–2% H₂, caused by the α → β phase transition of PdH_x, a pronounced effect for nanowires at room temperature. The activation energies associated with sensor response and recovery are measured and interpreted.     

过渡金属氧化物表面修饰氢气传感器

以SnO2系为敏感材料制备气敏元件,在元件的表面涂敷一层Fe2O3,MnO2或CuO掺杂的活性氧化铝修饰膜,有效地隔离并消除乙醇、烟雾、有机蒸气等杂散气体对元件的干扰.     

Flexible and Transparent Gas Molecule Sensor Integrated with Sensing and Heating Graphene Layers

Graphene leading to high surface‐to‐volume ratio and outstanding conductivity is applied for gas molecule sensing with fully utilizing its unique transparent and flexible functionalities which cannot be expected from solid‐state gas sensors. In order to attain a fast response and rapid recovering time, the flexible sensors also require integrated flexible and transparent heaters. Here, large‐scale flexible and transparent gas molecule sensor devices, integrated with a graphene sensing channel and a graphene transparent heater for fast recovering operation, are demonstrated. This combined all‐graphene device structure enables an overall device optical transmittance that exceeds 90% and reliable sensing performance with a bending strain of less than 1.4%. In particular, it is possible to classify the fast (≈14 s) and slow (≈95 s) response due to sp²‐carbon bonding and disorders on graphene and the self‐integrated graphene heater leads to the rapid recovery (≈11 s) of a 2 cm × 2 cm sized sensor with reproducible sensing cycles, including full recovery steps without significant signal degradation under exposure to NO₂ gas.     

Sensor Selective Gas Analyzer for Small Concentrations of Hydrogen Sulfide

A sensor (based on a MDS-capacitor) gas analyzer for hydrogen sulfide concentration in the range 5–200 ppb at the level of the limiting permissible concentration for a health zone is suggested. The gas analyzer is selective with respect to hydrogen sulfide.     

Flexible Transparent Films Based on Nanocomposite Networks of Polyaniline and Carbon Nanotubes for High‐Performance Gas Sensing

A flexible, transparent, chemical gas sensor is assembled from a transparent conducting film of carbon nanotube (CNT) networks that are coated with hierarchically nanostructured polyaniline (PANI) nanorods. The nanocomposite film is synthesized by in‐situ, chemical oxidative polymerization of aniline in a functional multiwalled CNT (FMWCNT) suspension and is simultaneously deposited onto a flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate. An as‐prepared flexible transparent chemical gas sensor exhibits excellent transparency of 85.0% at 550 nm using the PANI/FMWCNT nanocomposite film prepared over a reaction time of 8 h. The sensor also shows good flexibility, without any obvious decrease in performance after 500 bending/extending cycles, demonstrating high‐performance, portable gas sensing at room temperature. This superior performance could be attributed to the improved electron transport and collection due to the CNTs, resulting in reliable and efficient sensing, as well as the high surface‐to‐volume ratio of the hierarchically nanostructured composites. The excellent transparency, improved sensing performance, and superior flexibility of the device, may enable the integration of this simple, low‐cost, gas sensor into handheld flexible transparent electronic circuitry and optoelectronic devices.     

Automatic Gas Analyzers for Hydrogen in the Volumetric Concentration Range 10–6–1.0%

Three modifications of an automatic hydrogen gas analyzer in the concentration range from 10^–6 to 1.0% (vol.) are suggested. Measurement results are periodically recorded in an internal and external memory in real time for subsequent computer processing.     

Stabilizing MoS2 Nanosheets through SnO2 Nanocrystal Decoration for High‐Performance Gas Sensing in Air

The unique properties of MoS₂ nanosheets make them a promising candidate for high‐performance room temperature sensing. However, the properties of pristine MoS₂ nanosheets are strongly influenced by the significant adsorption of oxygen in an air environment, which leads to instability of the MoS₂ sensing device, and all sensing results on MoS₂ reported to date were exclusively obtained in an inert atmosphere. This significantly limits the practical sensor application of MoS₂ in an air environment. Herein, a novel nanohybrid of SnO₂ nanocrystal (NC)‐decorated crumpled MoS₂ nanosheet (MoS₂/SnO₂) and its exciting air‐stable property for room temperature sensing of NO₂ are reported. Interestingly, the SnO₂ NCs serve as strong p‐type dopants for MoS₂, leading to p‐type channels in the MoS₂ nanosheets. The SnO₂ NCs also significantly enhance the stability of MoS₂ nanosheets in dry air. As a result, unlike other MoS₂ sensors operated in an inert gas (e.g. N₂), the nanohybrids exhibit high sensitivity, excellent selectivity, and repeatability to NO₂ under a practical dry air environment. This work suggests that NC decoration significantly tunes the properties of MoS₂ nanosheets for various applications.