Two-dimensional (2D) nanostructured materials such as reduced graphene oxide (rGO) are highly promising forhydrogen (H_2) sensing due to their narrow bandgap, number of active sites, and high surface area. Detection ofhydrogen gas, a renewable and clean source of energy, in the atmosphere is of great importance in maintainingsafety at all stages of hydrogen production, storage and use. In this work, a novel conductometric sensor has beendeveloped based on hybrid 2D nanostructured rGO doped with Pd nanoparticles (Pd/rGO) to evaluate its sensingperformance towards hydrogen with different concentrations (up to 1%). Various sensing parameters includingsensitivity, response/recovery time, stability, and low detection limit have been investigated throughout theexperiment. We also evaluate performance of the developed sensors at different operating temperatures (roomtemperature up to 120°C). Material properties of hybrid Pd/rGO film including surface morphologies,crystallinity, molecular vibration, functional groups, and oxidation states are sufficiently analysed by X-rayphotoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy(EDX), profilometer, X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Raman spectroscopy. Furthermore, fundamental sensingmechanism governing the interactions between Pd/rGO and the hydrogen molecules are studied. It is anticipatedthat materials and techniques described in this work offers solutions to develop highly sensitive and portablehydrogen sensors with low power consumption and low fabrication and operation cost.
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