Room temperature hydrogen sensors based on metal decorated WO3 nanowires

The emerging hydrogen economy has created a demand for the development of improved hydrogen sensors operating at room temperature. In this work, we present hydrogen detectors based on metal decorated WO3 nanowires that were able to detect 1000 ppm of H2, even at room temperature (30 °C), with relatively short recovery time and high sensitivity. The nanowires were synthesized by a hydrothermal process and decorated with PdO and PtOx nanoparticles by decomposition of Pd(acac)2 and Pt(acac)2 precursors. The gas responses were tested for H2, NO, H2S and CO analyte gases in an air buffer at 150, 200 and 250 °C (H2 also at 30, 70 and 130 °C).