PdO/PdO2 functionalized ZnO:Pd films for lower operating temperature H2 gas sensing

Abstract

Through this work, we propose a novel strategy to grow and modulate the density of PdO/PdO2 nanoparticles uniformly on nanostructured Pd-doped ZnO (ZnO:Pd) films by a one-step solution approach followed by thermal annealing at 650 °C, and thus to detect ppm-level H2 gas in a selective manner. The gas sensing properties of such hybridized materials showed that the PdO-functionalized ZnO samples offer significantly improved H2 gas sensing properties in an operating temperature range of 25–200 °C. The deposition of ZnO:Pd films via a simple synthesis from chemical solutions (SCS) approach with an aqueous bath (at relatively low temperatures, <95 °C) is reported.