Hydrogen Gas Detection of Nb2O5 Nanoparticle-Decorated CuO Nanorod Sensors

Pristine and Nb2O5 nanoparticles-decorated CuO nanorods were prepared successfully by a two step process: the thermal evaporation of a Cu foil and the spin coating of NbCl5 solution on CuO nanorods followed by thermal annealing. X-ray diffraction was performed to examine the structure and purity of the synthesized nanoatuctures. Scanning electron microscopy was used to examine the morphology and shape of the nanostuctures. The Nb2O5 nanoparticles-decorated CuO nanorod sensor showed responses of similar to 217.05-862.54%, response times of similar to 161-199 s and recovery times of similar to 463-171 s toward H-2 gas with concentrations in a range of 0.5 - 5% at the optimal working temperature of 300 degrees C. The Nb2O5 nanoparticle-decorated CuO nanorod sensor showed superior sensing performance to the pristine CuO nanorod sensor for the same H-2 concentration range. The underlying mechanism for the enhanced hydrogen sensing performance of the CuO nanorods decorated with Nb2O5 nanoparticles is discussed.