Palladium decorated silicon carbide nanocauliflowers for hydrogen gas sensing application

Silicon carbide (SiC) nanostructures have attracted significant attention for device applications due to their unique structural, electronic and catalytic properties. Here, the efficiency of three dimensional SiC nano-cauliflowers (NCs) for hydrogen gas sensing application has been investigated. We have deposited a vertically aligned, ordered Pd decorated SiC NCs directly on a silver (Ag) coated porous anodic alumina (AAO) substrate by DC magnetron cosputtering and then it used as a gas sensor without additional processing. The sensor shows remarkably high and selective responses to hydrogen gas with low detection range 2-500 ppm at relatively high temperature range (30-500 °C). Our results demonstrate the potential application of Pd decorated SiC NCs for fabricating highly sensitive and selective hydrogen gas sensors.