Enhanced Hydrogen Gas Detection Using SAW Sensor Through Oxygen Pre-Treatment

Journal Article · Mon Dec 09 00:00:00 EST 2019 · IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1109/ULTSYM.2019.8925669· OSTI ID:1864961

Ayes, Armando ^[1]; Ohodnicki, Paul ^[2]; Lad, Robert ^[3]; Pereira da Cunha, Mauricio ^[3]

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1. Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME (United States); University of Maine
2. National Energy Technology Lab. (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA (United States)
3. Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME (United States)

Hydrogen gas sensing is crucial in a variety of applications, including power generation, fuel cells, automotive, metallurgic and manufacturing industries. Some of the requirements for a hydrogen sensor are reliability, robustness, stability, fast response and recovery times. Surface acoustic wave (SAW) technology can offer these characteristics, and others such as small size and weight, wireless operation capability including multiple sensor interrogation, mass production reproducibility and low cost. In this work, an improvement in room temperature H₂ gas sensor response time and stability is reported through the use of O₂ treatments. The exposure to O₂, after interaction with H₂, reconditions the Pt-Al₂O₃ composite thin-film used both as the electrode and H₂ sensing layer. As a result, the SAW sensor frequency response recovery is over five times larger during the initial 20 minutes when compared to the exposure to N₂ inert gas. In addition, the O₂ treatment allows the recovery of the sensor to a state close to the one prior to the reduction by H₂ within about an hour, thus leading to a stable device response, which is very difficult to achieve under the inert N₂ environment even after tens of hours. The method is thus very promising in recovering the surface of sensing devices which rely on metallic composite electrodes and oxide films exposed to reducing environment.

• Research Organization: Univ. of Maine, Orono, ME (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
• Grant/Contract Number: FE0026217
• OSTI ID: 1864961
• Journal Information: IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium, Journal Name: IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium Vol. 2019; ISSN 1948-5727
• Publisher: IEEE
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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