Hydrogen gas sensor based on self-heating effect of SnO2/Pt thin film with ultralow power consumption

Self-heating of sensing elements on gas sensors is an effective solution to avoid using external heaters. In this paper, a self-heated hydrogen gas sensor is presented. The sensor was created using the DC sputtering method, which involved fabricating it on a thermal-insulating Kapton flexible substrate. This process utilized a thin film of SnO2 with thick 50 nm that was modified with nanoclusters of Pt, serving as the sensing material. The SnO2/Pt material film was analyzed for microstructure and composition by SEM, XRD, and XPS analysis. Infrared images show that the self-heating effect is mainly concentrated in the strip of gas-sensitive material. It showed many good performances, such as high sensitivity (able to detect down to 50 ppm of H2), good selectivity (poor response to CO, NH3, H2S, and NO2), the sensor's performance is little changed by environmental humidity, and low power consumption (89 μW at 5V). The sensor is also stable and low-cost, suitable for portable H2 detection devices due to its low generated heat and small size.