Hydrogen-Sensing Characterization of Pd-Doped CuO Nanoparticles;Synthesized by Solvothermal method

Semiconductor oxides are important materials in gas-detection systems and can be improved by enhancing the sensitivity and selectivity of oxide sensors to specific gases. This research investigates the effect of palladium dopant (Pd) on the hydrogen gas-sensing ability of CuO nanoparticles. Photolithography was used to pattern electrodes on various concentrations of Pd-oped CuO thin films deposited on silicon oxide substrate,and these devices were subsequently used to measure the electrical resistance in response to hydrogen gas flow. Both nanoparticles and gas-sensing characterization were conducted on the CuO thin-film samples. For the nanoparticles characterization of the thin films, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to determine the effect of various concentrations of dopant on the grain structure. X-Ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) was used to verify the composition of the Pd-oped CuO thin films; X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) was used to determine the crystal structure of the doped thin films. For the sensinggas- characterization, the three key assessments used to characterize the sensitivity of CuO thin films were comparisons between CuO th-filmn sensors and a ommercial sensor, comparisons between CuO thin-film sensors and the exposure of the CuO thin films to UV light.

Keywords:

gas sensing , CuO , nanoparticles , H2 , solvothermal