Department of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, 412 96 Göteborg, Sweden.
DIFFER - Dutch Institute for Fundamental Energy Research, De Zaale 20, 5612 AJ Eindhoven, The Netherlands.
ACS Sens. 2020 Nov 25;5(11):3306-3327. doi: 10.1021/acssensors.0c02019. Epub 2020 Nov 12.
Hydrogen gas is rapidly approaching a global breakthrough as a carbon-free energy vector. In such a hydrogen economy, safety sensors for hydrogen leak detection will be an indispensable element along the entire value chain, from the site of hydrogen production to the point of consumption, due to the high flammability of hydrogen-air mixtures. To stimulate and guide the development of such sensors, industrial and governmental stakeholders have defined sets of strict performance targets, which are yet to be entirely fulfilled. In this Perspective, we summarize recent efforts and discuss research strategies for the development of hydrogen sensors that aim at meeting the set performance goals. In the first part, we describe the state-of-the-art for fast and selective hydrogen sensors at the research level, and we identify nanostructured Pd transducer materials as the common denominator in the best performing solutions. As a consequence, in the second part, we introduce the fundamentals of the Pd-hydrogen interaction to lay the foundation for a detailed discussion of key strategies and Pd-based material design rules necessary for the development of next generation high-performance nanostructured Pd-based hydrogen sensors that are on par with even the most stringent and challenging performance targets.
氢气作为一种无碳能源载体,即将迎来全球突破。在这样的氢能经济中,由于氢气-空气混合物的高可燃性,用于氢气泄漏检测的安全传感器将成为整个价值链上不可或缺的元素,从氢气生产现场到使用点。为了刺激和引导此类传感器的发展,工业和政府利益相关者已经定义了一系列严格的性能目标,但尚未完全实现。在本观点中,我们总结了最近的努力,并讨论了开发旨在满足设定性能目标的氢气传感器的研究策略。在第一部分中,我们描述了研究水平上快速和选择性氢气传感器的最新进展,并确定了纳米结构 Pd 换能器材料是表现最好的解决方案中的共同因素。因此,在第二部分中,我们介绍了 Pd-氢相互作用的基本原理,为详细讨论开发下一代高性能纳米结构 Pd 基氢气传感器所需的关键策略和 Pd 基材料设计规则奠定了基础,这些传感器的性能与最严格和最具挑战性的性能目标相当。