Fabrication of porous silicon filled Pd/SiC nanocauliflower thin films for high performance H2 gas sensor

In this work, we have fabricated the Pd decorated silicon carbide (SiC) nanocauliflowers (NCs) thin films on electrochemically etched porous silicon (PS) substrate by DC magnetron co-sputtering technique. The gas sensing performance of Pd/SiC NCs to hydrogen gas under low (5500 ppm) detection limit at high operating temperature regime (40-500 degrees C) were studied in detail without additional processing. The nanocauliflowers sensor demonstrates the high sensing response (R-a/R(g)(similar to)14.48), fast response/recovery time (10s/18s) with excellent stability (24 cycles) towards 100 ppm H-2 at high temperature of 380 degrees C. The underlying sensing mechanism behind the notable performance of the proposed sensing action towards H-2 was also discussed in detail. Therefore, the investigated Pd/SiC NCs can be used as highly sensitive and selective hydrogen gas sensor at high working temperatures in harsh environment. (C) 2018 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.