HYDROGEN SENSOR BASED ON Pd/InP STRUCTURES

Abstract

The development of a photoelectrical hydrogen sensor without sensor element heating is presented. For the sensitive element of the hydrogen sensor the Pd/n-InP (Schottkie diode) and Pd/oxide/InP (met-alinsulator-semiconductor) structures were developed and investigations of the photovoltage and the photocurrent of the structures depending on the hydrogen concentration in the range 0.1–100 vol.% in a nitrogen-hydrogen gas mixture were carried out. It is shown that the photovoltage and photocurrent decay rate and the hydrogen concentration are exponentially related to each other. The laboratory samples of sensor for hydrogen determination in the range 100–30000 ppm which able to operate at room temperature with response rate of 1–2 s are developed.