• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.24 no.1
• /
• pp.6-9
• /
• 2015

Conventional leak detectors are widely based on helium gas sensors. However, the usage of hydrogen sensors in leak detectors has increased because of the high prices of helium leak detectors and the dearth in the supply of helium gas. In this study, a hydrogen leak detector was developed using solid-state hydrogen sensors. The hydrogen sensors are based on Park-Rapp probes with heterojunctions made by oxygen-ion conducting Yttria-stabilized zirconia and proton-conducting In-doped $CaZrO_3$. The hydrogen sensors were used for determining the potential difference between air and air balanced 5 ppm of $H_2$. Even though the Park-Rapp probe shows an excellent selectivity for hydrogen, the sensitivity of the sensor was low because of the low concentration of hydrogen, and the oxygen on the surface of the sensor. In order to increase the sensitivity of the sensor, the sensors were connected in series by Pt wires to increase the potential difference. The sensors were tested at temperatures ranging from $500-600^{\circ}C$.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Automotive Engineers
• /
• v.21 no.1
• /
• pp.23-29
• /
• 2013

In recent years, development of energy conversion systems using hydrogen as an energy source has been accelerated globally. Even though hydrogen is an environment-friendly energy source, safety and effectiveness issues in storage, transportation, and usage of hydrogen should be clearly resolved in every application. Therefore, sensors for detecting hydrogen leakage, especially for fuel cell electric vehicles, should be designed to have much higher resolution and accuracy in comparison with conventional gas sensors. In this study, we conducted to determine the design parameters for the semiconductor hydrogen sensor with optimized sensing conditions under the thermal distribution characteristic and thermal transfer characteristic. The heat generation study on power supply voltage was studied for correlation analysis of thermal energy according to the power supply voltage variation from 1.0 voltage to 10.0 voltage every 0.5 voltage. And we studied for the temperature coefficient of resistance with hydrogen sensor.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.136-141
• /
• 2005

Li-doped NiO was synthesized by molten salt method. $LiNO_3$-LiOH flux was used as a source for Li doping. $NiCl_2$ was added to the molten Li flux and then processed to make the Li-doped NiO material. Li:Ni ratios were maintained from 5:1 to 30:1 during the synthetic procedure and the Li doping amount of synthesized materials were found between 0.086-0.190 as a Li ion to Ni ion ratio. Li doping did not change the basic cubic structural characteristics of NiO as evidenced by XRD studies, however the lattice parameter decreased from 0.41769nm in pure NiO to 0.41271nm as Li doping amount increased. Hydrogen gas sensors were fabricated using these materials as thick films on alumina substrates. The half surface of each sensor was coated with the Pt catalyst. The sensor when exposed to the hydrogen gas blended in air, heated up the catalytic surface leaving rest half surface (without catalyst) cold. The thermoelectric voltage thus built up along the hot and cold surface of the Li-doped NiO made the basis for detecting hydrogen gas. The linearity of the voltage signal vs $H_2$ concentration was checked up to 4% of $H_2$ in air (as higher concentrations above 4.65% are explosive in air) using Li doped NiO of Li ion/Ni ion=0.111 as the sensor material. The response time T90 and the recovery time RT90 were less than 25 sec. There was minimum interference of other gases and hence $H_2$ gas can easily be detected.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers
• /
• v.20 no.3
• /
• pp.228-233
• /
• 2007

Core technologies for integrating hydrogen gas sensor were investigated. In this study, the thermally isolated micro-hot-plate with areas of $100{\times}100-260{\times}260{\mu}m^2$ was fabricated by utilizing surface micromachining technique that provides better manufacturing yield than bulk micromachining counterpart. The optimum design of the sensor was peformed by analyzing the thermal profile of the structure obtained from a ANSYS simulator. The 400-nm-thick polysilicon films doped with phosphorus, the 300-nm-thick aluminum films, and the 200-nm-thick $SnO_2$(or ZnO)films were used as the micro-heater material, the temperature sensor material, and the gas sensitive material, respectively. The experimental results show that the developed gas sensors can detect $H_2$ concentration as low as 1 ppm.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.27 no.2
• /
• pp.132-136
• /
• 2018

We report the development of a room-temperature hydrogen ($H_2$) gas sensor based on carbon nanotubes (CNT) yarn. To detect $H_2$ gas in room temperature, a highly ordered CNT yarn was placed on a substrate from a spin-capable CNT forest, followed by the deposition of a platinum (Pt) layer on surface of the CNT yarn. To examine the effect of the Pt-layer on the response of the CNT sensor, a comparative sensing performance was characterized on both the Pt deposited and non-deposited CNT yarn at room temperature. The Pt-CNT yarn yielded high response, whereas the non-deposited CNT yarn showed negligible response for $H_2$ detection at room temperature. Pt is a reliable and efficient catalyst that can substantially improve the detection of $H_2$ gas by chemical sensitization via a "spillover" effect. It can be efficiently utilized to increase the sensitivity and selectivity as well as to obtain fast response and recovery times.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2011.02a
• /
• pp.450-450
• /
• 2011

This study reports the hydrogen sulfide gas sensing properties of ZnO nanorods bundle and the investigation of gas sensing mechanism. Also the improvement of sensing properties was also studied through the application of ZnO heterstructured nanorods. The 1-Dimensional ZnO nano-structure was synthesized by hydrothermal method and ZnO nano-heterostructures were prepared by sonochemical reaction. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction (XRD) spectra confirmed a well-crystalline ZnO of hexagonal structure. The gas response of ZnO nanorods bundle sensor increased with increasing temperature, which is thought to be due to chemical reaction of nanorods with gas molecules. Through analysis of X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), the sensing mechanism of ZnO nanorods bundle sensor was explained by well-known surface reaction between ZnO surface atoms and hydrogen sulfide. However at high sensing temperature, chemical conversion of ZnO nanorods becomes a dominant sensing mechanism in current system. In order to improve the gas sensing properties, simple type of gas sensor was fabricated with ZnO nano-heterostructures, which were prepared by deposition of CuO, Au on the ZnO nanorods bundle. These heteronanostructures show higher gas response and higher current level than ZnO nanorods bundle. The gas sensing mechanism of the heteronanostructure can be explained by the chemical conversion of sensing material through the reaction with target gas.

• The Korean Journal of Ceramics
• /
• v.2 no.2
• /
• pp.83-88
• /
• 1996

Long term stability, sensitization in air, and gas sensing behaviors of tin oxide films were investigated with doping of antimony and palladium. The tin oxide films were prepared on a Corning glass by reactive rf sputtering method and tested for detection of hydrogen gas. Sb-doping improved a long-term stability in the base resistance of $SnO_2$ film sensor. A small amount of Pd doping caused the optimum sensor operating temperature to reduce and also enhanced the gas sensitivity, compared with the undoped $SnO_2$ film. Gas sensitivity depended largely on the film thickness. The important sensitization reactions for sensor operating were $(O_{2ads})+e^-\;{\rightarrow}\;2(O_{ads})^-$ on the surface of $SnO_2$ film at elevated temperature in air and a followed reaction of hydrogen atoms with $(O_{ads})^-$ ions.

• Journal of Sensor Science and Technology
• /
• v.19 no.2
• /
• pp.87-91
• /
• 2010

Hydrogen gas sensors were fabricated using $PdO_x$ loaded with SWNTs. The nanoparticle powders of $SWNT_s-PdO_x$ composite were deposited on Si wafer substrates by a vacuum filtering deposition method. The fabricated sensors were tested against hydrogen gas. The composition ratio that exhibited the highest response to hydrogen gases was SWNTs : $PdO_x$ = 98 : 2 in wt% ratio at operating temperature of about $150^{\circ}C$. The response and recovery times were shorter than 1.0 min. in presence of 1000 ppm hydrogen.

• Proceedings of the Korean Vacuum Society Conference
• /
• 2016.02a
• /
• pp.273.1-273.1
• /
• 2016

Graphene exhibits a number of unique properties that make it an intriguing candidate for use in sensor. Here, we report graphene-based gas sensor. Graphene was grown using CVD. Then, the sensor was made using standard lithography techniques. The sensor conductance increased upon exposure to NH3, whereas it decreased upon NO2, suggesting that NH3 and NO2 might be discriminated using the graphene-based sensor. To improve the sensitivity, graphene was treated with hydrogen plasma. After hydrogen treatment, the electrical properties of graphene changed from ambipolar to p-type semiconductors. In addition, the sensor performance was improved probably due to an opening of bandgap.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
• /
• v.20 no.5
• /
• pp.378-383
• /
• 2009

Hydrogen is the primary fuel in fuel cell systems. Because of high inflammation and explosion possibility of hydrogen, fuel cell systems require safety measures to prevent hydrogen hazard upon leakage. In this study, a model enclosure was made by referring to a commercial residential fuel cell system and hydrogen leakage experiments and computational simulations were conducted therein. Hydrogen was injected into the cavity through leakage holes located at the bottom while its flow rate was precisely controlled using MFC. The transient sensor signals from hydrogen sensors installed inside the enclosure were recorded and analyzed. The hydrogen sensor signals showed different delay times depending on their position relative to a leakage point, which indicated that hydrogen generally moves upward and accumulates at the upper region of a closed cavity. The inflammable regions with hydrogen concentration over 4% LEL were observed to locate near the leakage hole initially, and broaden towards the upper cavity region afterward. The simulation result showed that detection time at the hydrogen sensor was similar to the pattern of experimental results. However, the maximum concentration of hydrogen had a gap between experiment and simulation at detect point due to measurement errors and reaction rate.