A room-temperature hydrogen sensor based on Pd nanoparticles doped TiO2 nanotubes

A novel room-temperature hydrogen sensor with improved performance has been developed and tested. The detection of hydrogen using anodic TiO2 nanotubes is significantly enhanced by employing Pd nanoparticles in the system due to Schottky barrier. The morphological, chemical and electrochemical properties of the Pd/TiO2 nanocomposite materials were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction and current–voltage measurements. The performance of this hydrogen sensing material has been evaluated in air. The result has demonstrated that it is capable of providing fast response and selective detection with good reproducibility and short recovery time at room temperature. The detection was observed to be non-inference by the presence of other gases such as CO2, CH4 and NH3, which could be very useful in real-to-life applications.