Investigation of the H2 sensing properties of multilayer mesoporous pure and Pd-doped SnO2 thin film

Abstract

Abstract Multilayer mesoporous pure and Pd-doped SnO2 thin films had been successfully synthesized through an evaporation induced self-assembly (EISA) method using Pluronic F127 as template and deposited by an improved spin-coating method. The crystalline structure and micro morphology of the prepared materials were analyzed. The specific surface area and average pore size of mesoporous SnO2 were 90.61\u2009m2/g and 4.89\u2009nm, respectively. The average crystallite size was about 6\u2009nm for mesoporous SnO2. The H2 sensing properties were investigated to different H2 concentrations and at different temperatures. The response magnitude of the five-layer pure mesoporous SnO2 thin film to 1000\u2009ppm H2 at 175\u2009°C was 237.85. This amount was approximately 4.11 times that of single layer sample. The correlation of the response magnitude and H2 concentration of the five-layer pure mesoporous SnO2 thin film was more linear compared to the five-layer Pd-doped mesoporous SnO2 thin film, which had the highest response magnitude of 774.49–1000\u2009ppm and 1115.39–2000\u2009ppm H2 at 175\u2009°C. The response and recovery behavior was discussed and the mechanism of the outstanding H2 sensing performance was explained.