In this article, Viktor Kabitakis, a past Master student of at the Department of Physics and researchers from IESL/FORTH with group leader Dr. Vassilios Binas, also instructor at the Dept. of Physics, in collaboration with research groups of Dr. George Deligeorgis IESL/FORTH, Prof. Leonidas Tsetseris from National Technical University of Athens and Prof. Thomas Anthopoulos from KAUST, developed a low power with high performance hydrogen gas sensor.
In particular, a low power (0.1V), room temperature p type copper thiocyanate (CuSCN) hydrogen gas sensor with a low detection limit down to 200ppm was presented. The hydrogen economy which is emerging as a possible clean energy alternative to the fossil fuels market, needs fast and inexpensive hydrogen sensors to detect the lowest possible hydrogen concentration due to its extremely flammability and autoignity. The sensing film of the low cost CuSCN sensor was prepared by spin coating and the film thickness was only 25 nm. Sensors incorporating interdigitated electrodes made of noble metals (gold, platinum, palladium) were studied while the sensor with the Pd electrodes show the highest signal response of 179%. Additionally, density functional theory calculations, which highlight the role of atomic hydrogen species created upon interaction with the noble metal electrode as the origin for the increased p-type conductivity of CuSCN during exposure confirmed the experimental findings.
Figure: Summary of the response of best-in-class hydrogen sensors reported to date in literature operating at room temperature.
Research Article: "A Low-Power CuSCN Hydrogen Sensor Operating Reversibly at Room Temperature", Kabitakis, V., Gagaoudakis, E., Moschogiannaki, M., Kiriakidis, G., Seitkhan, A., Firdaus, Y., Faber, H., Yengel, E., Loganathan, K., Deligeorgis, G., Tsetseris, L., Anthopoulos, T.D., Binas, V., 2021 Advanced Functional Materials, DOI: 10.1002/adfm.202102635
