Effects of temperature and light on CeO2/SnO2 thin-film hydrogen sensors

Inhalt:
Great efforts are currently underway to establish hydrogen as a reliable and accessible energy source that could compete or even replace fossil fuels. In this vision of an economy based on H2 as a clean energy carrier, one important aspect is the monitoring of its concentration in air. Resistive gas sensing based on metal oxides (MO(x)) is an established technology still being actively investigated. Key aspects of this technology include, among others, sensitivity, selectivity, and power consumption, where the latter is mainly driven by heating requirements by the MO(x), usually above 300deg C. In this work, we report the use of cerium dioxide and its combination with tin dioxide as a possible candidate to reduce the temperature requirement to detect hydrogen in air. To this end, we investigate the influence of light, temperature, and voltage on the electrical current of fabricated sensors along with the effects of exposing them to a H2/air mixture.