Elsevier – Scientific Paper – Hydrogen gas sensor

University: University of Georgia, University of South Florida, Savannah River National Laboratory
Authors: Hoang Mai Luong, Minh Thien Pham, Richa Pokharel Madhogaria, Manh-Huong Phan, George Keefe Larsen, Tho Duc Nguyen
Journal: Science Direct (Elsevier 2020)
Application Note related to our instrument: Gas Dilution and Sensor Calibration

TITLE: Bilayer plasmonic nano-lattices for tunable hydrogen sensing platform.

ABSTRACT: Gas sensors are critical for facilitating the safety and integrity of systems used in the hydrogen energy and storage systems. It is challenging for any sensing technology to meet all the performance requirements for emerging applications, such as dynamic measuring range, response time, and sensitivity.
Here, we propose an optical hydrogen gas sensor platform based on Pd bilayer plasmonic nano-lattices (BPNL), which is comprised of two parallel, subwavelength-separated hexagonal arrays of Pd nano-patchy particles and nano-holes. Optical transmission studies of the BPNL structure and its isolated sub-structures of nano-patches (NPs) and nano-hole arrays (NHs) upon hydrogen sorption show distinct optical isotherms with different spectral changes and response times in the visible-to-near-infrared region. Experiments and finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) calculations show that the strong electromagnetic coupling between localized and propagating plasmonic modes of the NPs and NHs, respectively, leads to the unique optical properties of the BPNL and their subsequent change upon hydrogen sorption.
Notably, the BPNL structure possesses an extended optical response range and enhanced sensitivity for hydrogen detection. Additionally, the optical response time of the BPNL structure is an order of magnitude faster than that of the isolated array sensors in the low hydrogen pressure range. Finally, we demonstrate that the sensing characteristics of such a BPNL platform can be further improved by tuning its structural parameters.

FULL AND ORIGINAL SCIENTIFIC PAPER: Science Direct Elsevier 2020

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