Chemiresistive substrate for a hydrogen gas sensor
AssigneeRoyal Melbourne Institute of Technology
InventorsEbtsam Khalefah Alenezy, Yilas Mohammad Sabri, Ahmad Esmaiel Kandjani, Samuel James Ippolito, Suresh Kumar Bhargava
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Abstract
The invention provides a chemiresistive substrate for a dihydrogen-sensitive amperometric gas sensor, the chemiresistive substrate comprising: a crystalline semiconductive metal oxide layer comprising an array of spaced apart hollow metal oxide micro-shells protruding from a base plane of the metal oxide layer; and metallic nanoparticles decorating the metal oxide layer.
Claims19
A chemiresistive substrate for a dihydrogen-sensitive amperometric gas sensor, the chemiresistive substrate comprising:
- a crystalline semiconductive metal oxide layer comprising an array of spaced apart hollow metal oxide micro-shells protruding from a base plane of the metal oxide layer;
- and
- metallic nanoparticles decorating the metal oxide layer,
- wherein the metal oxide micro-shells are spaced apart from their nearest neighbors by a distance of at least 0.2 micrometers.
A chemiresistive substrate according to claim1, wherein the metal oxide micro-shells are substantially hemispherical and wherein the metal oxide micro-shells have substantially uniform dimensions.
A method of producing a dihydrogen-sensitive chemiresistive substrate, the method comprising:
- producing a close-packed monolayer array of polymeric microspheres on a support surface;
- etching the polymeric microspheres to produce an array of spaced apart polymeric microparticles on the support surface;
- depositing a coating of metal oxide over the support surface and the polymeric microparticles;
- calcining the coated support surface to remove the polymeric microparticles and produce a crystalline semiconductive metal oxide layer on the support surface, the metal oxide layer comprising an array of spaced apart hollow metal oxide micro-shells protruding from a base plane of the metal oxide layer;
- and
- decorating the metal oxide layer with metallic nanoparticles.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.