Facial fabrication of an inorganic/organic thermoelectric nanocomposite based gas sensor for hydrogen detection with wide range and reliability

Abstract

A novel method for fabrication of a thermochemical hydrogen (TCH) gas sensor composed of platinum (Pt)-decorated graphene sheets and a thermoelectric (TE) polymer nanocomposite was investigated. The hydrogen sensing characterization for the device included gas response, response time (T-90), recovery time (D-10), and reliability testing, which were systematically conducted at room temperature with a relative humidity of 55%. Here, the Pt-decorated graphene sheets act as both an effective hydrogen oxidation surface and a heat-transfer TE polymer nanocomposite having low thermal conductivity. This property plays an important role in generating output voltage signal with a temperature difference between the top and bottom surfaces of the nanocomposite. As a result, our TCH gas sensor can detect the range of hydrogen from 100 ppm to percentage level with good linearity. The best response and recovery time revealed for the optimized TCH gas sensor were 23 s and 17 s under 1000 ppm H-2/air, respectively. This type of sensor can provide an important component for fabricating thermoelectric-based gas sensors with favorable gas sensing performance. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.