Response Behavior of a Palladium Nanoparticle Array Based Hydrogen Sensor in Hydrogen–nitrogen Mixture

Closely spaced palladium nanoparticle arrays were fabricated in between a pair of interdigital electrodes by means of gas phase cluster beam deposition with controlled coverage. The quantum conductance change induced by hydrogen absorption was used for hydrogen sensing. The hydrogen response behavior of a sensor chip was investigated in N2 + H2 mixture gas. The sensor could be calibrated with three linear response hydrogen concentration regimes. A sub-second fast response was shown at 2.2% H2 concentration. The influence of the temperature variation to the quantitative hydrogen concentration measurement with this sensor was discussed.