Thermochemical hydrogen sensor based on Pt-coated nanofiber catalyst deposited on pyramidally textured thermoelectric film

The hydrogen gas-sensing performance has been systemically investigated of a new type of thermochemical hydrogen (TCH) sensor, composed of pyramidally textured thermoelectric (TE) film and catalytic Pt-coated nanofibers (NFs) deposited over the TE film. The TE film was composed of stoichiometric Bi2Te3, synthesized by means of cost-effective electrochemical deposition onto a textured silicon wafer. The resulting pyramidally textured TE film played a critical role in maximizing hydrogen gas flow around the overlying Pt NFs, which were synthesized by means of electrospinning followed by sputtering and acted as a heating catalyst. The optimal temperature increase of the Pt NFs was determined by means of optimizations of the electrospinning and sputtering durations. The output voltage signal of the optimized TCH sensor based on Pt NFs was 17.5 times higher than that of a Pt thin film coated directly onto the pyramidal TE material by using the same sputtering duration, under the fixed conditions of 3 vol% H2 in air at room temperature. This observation can be explained by the increased surface area of (111) planes accessible on the Pt-coated NFs. The best response time and recovery time observed for the optimized TCH sensor based on Pt-coated NFs were respectively 17 and 2 s under the same conditions. We believe that this type of TCH sensor can be widely used for supersensitive hydrogen gas detection by employing small-size Pt NFs and various chalcogenide thin films with high thermoelectric performance.