Development and evaluation of nanostructured palladium thin film prepared by dealloying using dilute citric acid for hydrogen gas sensing application

The safe application of H2 gas requires a high-performance H2 gas sensing system. An attractive H2 gas sensor for industrial application which has H2 gas selectivity, high sensitivity, high response, high durability, small size, and low cost has not been developed yet. Durability is one of the most important problems in H2 gas sensors using Pd. This study focused on electric resistivity changes in metallic Pd with hydrogen gas absorption. Nanostructured palladium (NSPd) films for a hydrogen gas sensing material were fabricated by a dealloying method using dilute citric acid. Fabricated NSPd films exhibited a nanoscaled network structure or aggregated particle structure, a linear electric resistance change with hydrogen gas concentration, and high sensitivity compared to flat pure Pd films. Therefore, NSPd film is useful for hydrogen gas sensing applications and has both high sensitivity and low usage of the noble metal. Furthermore, we also revealed a degradation mechanism of pure Pd film due to repeated H2 gas exposure, and this phenomenon did not appear in the NSPd film. NSPd also showed a higher durability with repeated H2 gas exposure compared to pure Pd film. We concluded that NSPd is suitable for use as a practical H2 gas sensor due to its cost effectiveness and high sensing ability.