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Aging and activation of room temperature hydrogen sensitive Pt–SnO2 composite nanoceramics

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Abstract

Room temperature gas-sensitive metal oxides have received growing concern over their long-term stability in recent years. Presently, Pt-SnO2 composite nanoceramics of 1 wt% Pt have been prepared, and the time dependence of their room temperature hydrogen sensing capability has been carefully studied. A strong variation with time was observed, with the room temperature response to 1% H2− 20% O2–N2 decreased by a factor of several dozen after only one week. Heat treatments were found highly effective to activate those aged samples. Their room temperature hydrogen sensing capability was almost completely restored through 10 min heat treatments at temperatures as low as 130 °C. It is proposed that impurity gases in air slowly deposit on Pt in Pt–SnO2 composite nanoceramics, and the catalytic role of Pt is deactivated by the deposition and then activated after their desorption through heat treatments. These results suggest that periodic mild heat treatments can be a simple and feasible way for some room temperature gas-sensitive metal oxides to maintain a high long-term stability.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Shenzhen Fundamental Research Program under Grant No. JCYJ20190808152803567, the National Key R&D Program of China under Grant No. 2020YFB2008800, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. U2067207.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Research Institute of Wuhan University in Shenzhen, Shenzhen, 518057, China

    Yong Huang & Wanping Chen

  2. Key Laboratory of Artificial Micro- and Nano-Structures of Ministry of Education, School of Physics and Technology, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072, Hubei, China

    Yong Huang, Lingyao Meng & Wanping Chen

  3. Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Metal Toughening Technology and Application, Institute of New Materials, Guangdong Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou, 510650, China

    Feng Chen

  4. Hubei Key Lab of Ferro- and Piezoelectric Materials and Devices, Faculty of Physics and Electronic Science, Hubei University, Wuhan, 430062, Hubei, China

    Yongming Hu

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  1. Yong Huang
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  2. Feng Chen
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  3. Lingyao Meng
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  4. Yongming Hu
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  5. Wanping Chen
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Contributions

YH contributed to preparation of materials, methodology, and writing—original draft preparation. FC contributed to preparation of materials. LM contributed to preparation of materials, data collection. YH contributed to SEM measurement. WC contributed to supervision, writing—reviewing and editing.

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Correspondence to Wanping Chen.

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The data that support the findings of this study are openly available to the reviewers.

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Huang, Y., Chen, F., Meng, L. et al. Aging and activation of room temperature hydrogen sensitive Pt–SnO2 composite nanoceramics. J Mater Sci 57, 15267–15275 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07611-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07611-z

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