Enhanced hydrogen gas sensing properties of Pd-doped SnO2 nanofibres by Ar plasma treatment

Pd-doped SnO2 nanofibres were prepared by electrospinning and magnetron sputtering. It was found that the efficiency of gas sensing properties in these fibres depends primarily on the density of oxygen vacancies, which can be regulated by plasma treatment. We demonstrated that moderate plasma treatment can increase the oxygen vacancy as well as improve the gas sensing performance of SnO2 However, excessive plasma treatment led to the production of other substances that deteriorated the gas sensing performance. Furthermore, the best results for hydrogen gas sensing were obtained when the nanofibres were subjected to plasma treatment for 1 min. The fabricated material demonstrated a response of more than 53 for 500 ppm hydrogen at the optimum temperature (130 degrees C), which is a significant improvement as compared to sensors without plasma treatment. Evidently, plasma treatment is an effective method to further enhance the sensing properties of the fabricated nanofibres.