Research on the application of WO3 gas sensor based on noble metals modification in cable fire detection

Abstract

In the monitoring of cable fire, it is of great significance to be able to conduct early fire warning, which requires that sensors have high sensitivity to the cable vapors at low temperatures. In this study, WO3 thick films modified with Au, Pd, and Pt single or bimetallic nanoparticles were fabricated via magnetron sputtering. Gas sensors utilizing these materials exhibited significant response to the low-temperature vapor emitted by YJV22 and YJY23 cables. Among them, Pd/WO3-20 demonstrated a response value of 20 to the vapor of 81[Formula: see text]C YJV22 cables, marking a remarkable 6.3-fold increase compared to pure WO3, and the response time was 13 s. Similarly, Pt/WO3-10 exhibited a response value of 11.11 to the vapor of 104[Formula: see text]C YJY23 cables, representing a 6.9-fold enhancement over pure WO3 with a response time of 12 s. The heating temperature of cables remains below their critical threshold, indicating that it is in the early stages of cable fires, the findings hold significant implications for early warning systems designed to detect cable fires promptly.