H2S Sensing Characteristics of NiO Nanopetal Film

Abstract

NiO is one of the most candidate materials for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) sensing due to its catalytic activity for the oxidation reaction of H2S, and high affinity of Ni in the NiO to S for the H2S adsorption. Porous NiO nanopetal film composed of interconnected thin nanosheets was grown by a facile template-free hydrothermal method at the relatively low temperature of 105 °C, and its H2S sensing characteristics was investigated in the temperature range of 25 °C to 400 °C. The NiO nanopetal film based device showed a reliable response to wide range of concentration from 10 ppm to 500 ppm H2S ambient at 400 °C. The sensor started to exhibit the responsivity to 500 ppm H2S gas at 200 °C. The maximum responsivity of the sensor with NiO nanopetals was 400% for 500 ppm H2S exposure at 300 °C. The NiO nanopetal film grown by the simple low-cost hydrothermal synthesis has high potential in applications of chemical, medical, energy, and food industries.