Quick response hydrogen LSPR sensor based on a hetero-core fiber structure with palladium nanoparticles

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Nanomaterials
• Chemical Sensing

Background:

• Optical fiber sensors are crucial for detecting gases like hydrogen.
• Localized Surface Plasmon Resonance (LSPR) offers high sensitivity for chemical detection.
• Existing LSPR sensors face challenges balancing sensitivity and response time.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel fiber optic hydrogen sensor utilizing LSPR.
• To investigate the performance of palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs) in a hetero-core fiber structure.
• To address the sensitivity-response time trade-off in optical fiber SPR sensors.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a hetero-core fiber optic structure.
• Coating the cladding surface with palladium nanoparticles (PdNPs).
• Light-intensity-based measurements using an 850 nm LED to detect transmitted loss changes.

Main Results:

• Demonstrated a novel fiber optic LSPR hydrogen sensor.
• Achieved rapid response (1.5 s) and recovery (3.2 s) times for 4% hydrogen.
• Observed a transmitted loss change of 0.23 dB.
• Maintained response times under 2.0 s in high sensitivity regions, resolving the trade-off.

Conclusions:

• The developed PdNPs-based fiber optic LSPR sensor offers unprecedented speed and sensitivity.
• This sensor technology overcomes critical limitations of previous SPR sensors.
• The sensor shows significant potential for real-time hydrogen monitoring applications.