High-performance hydrogen sulfide gas sensor based on Pd/Fe2O3–Zr4MnO10: working conditions optimization by response surface methodology

Abstract

Sensitive materials in gas sensors sometimes need to be activated at a certain high temperature. High working temperature, however, is one of the main obstacles of fabricating gas sensor. In this paper, a hydrogen sulfide gas sensor based on cataluminescence at lower temperature than 150 °C was reported. The sensitive material, Pd-doped Fe2O3–Zr4MnO10, was synthesized via precipitation and impregnation. Pd nanoparticles are uniformly distributed on the surface of Fe2O3–Zr4MnO10 with a size of < 50 nm. The working conditions of cataluminescence of hydrogen sulfide on nano-Pd/Fe2O3–Zr4MnO10 optimized by response surface methodology were analytical wavelength of 467.4 nm, reaction temperature of 128.5 °C and carrier gas velocity of 132.8 ml/min. The sensitivity of the method can be increased by 4.5% under the optimized working conditions. The optimization method is universal for many multi-parameter processes. The results indicated that nano-Pd/Fe2O3–Zr4MnO10 could be a good candidate for fabricating hydrogen sulfide gas sensor.