Enhanced response of WO 3 thin film through Ag loading towards room temperature hydrogen gas sensor.

This study investigates the enhancement of hydrogen gas-sensing performance by introducing silver (Ag) nanoparticles onto tungsten trioxide (WO ₃ ) thin films. Herein, the WO ₃ thin films are deposited onto SiO ₂ /Si substrates using a sputtering technique and Ag nanoparticles are loaded onto the WO ₃ surface through a spin coating technique. To evaluate the sensing performance of a hydrogen gas, interdigitated titanium (Ti) electrodes are deposited onto the Ag:WO ₃ layer. Structural, chemical, and morphological analyses are conducted for both pristine WO ₃ and Ag:WO ₃ thin films, followed by the investigation of gas-sensing performance by varying hydrogen gas concentrations from 100 ppm to 300 ppm and operating temperatures between 30 °C and 300 °C. The obtained results demonstrate that Ag:WO ₃ thin films exhibit a notably enhanced response of 5.08% when exposed to a concentration of 100 ppm of hydrogen gas at room temperature, compared to the pristine WO ₃ of 3.40%. The fabricated Ag:WO ₃ sensor exhibits a response time of 3.0 s, a recovery time of 4.5 s, and also demonstrates excellent stability over 45 days period. Finally, with the superior sensitivity and fast response time, the fabricated Ti/Ag:WO ₃ /Ti hydrogen gas sensor test-device can be a potential for improvement of safety from both industrial and environmental perspectives.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
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