Development of an ALD-Pt@SWCNT/Graphene 3D Nanohybrid Architecture for Hydrogen Sensing

A nanohybrid architecture composed of single-wall carbon nanotube films and graphene heterostructures (SWCNT/graphene) was developed as a three-dimensional (3D) electrode. Atomic layer deposition (ALD) was used for conformal coating of catalytic Pt nanoparticles on the 3D ALD-Pt@SWCNT/graphene nanohybrid architecture for further enhancement of H₂ sensing, taking advantage of the large sensing area and conformally coated nanostructures of the catalytic Pt. Remarkably, the H₂ response was found to be improved by 50% in the SWCNT/graphene nanohybrid, indicating that graphene provides a more efficient charge transport. The ALD-Pt further enhances the H₂ responsivity of the 3D ALD-Pt @SWCNT/graphene nanohybrids. By coating 10 cycles of ALD-Pt on the SWCNT/graphene nanohybrid, the H₂ response (2.77%) is approximately twice that (1.4%) of its counterpart without the ALD-Pt. By further optimizing the 3D ALD-Pt@SWCNT/graphene nanohybrids with respect to the ALD-Pt cycle numbers and SWCNT film thickness, a H₂ responsivity as high as 7.5% was achieved on the SWCNT/graphene nanohybrid sample with a 560 nm thick SWCNT film and 50 cycles of ALD-Pt.