Room temperature hydrogen sensing performances of multiple networked GaN nanowire sensors codecorated with Au and Pt nanoparticles

Abstract

The sensing performances of multiple networked GaN nanowire (NW) sensor codecorated with Au and Pt nanoparticles were examined. The pristine GaN nanowires show responses of approximately 108%–173% to 0.05%–0.25% H2 at room temperature. On the other hand, the GaN nanowires decorated with Au and those decorated with Pt lead to 1.1–1.3 and 1.2–1.6 times, respectively, stronger responses to 0.05%–0.25% H2. In contrast, the AuPt-codecorated GaN nanowires show 1.3–2.0 times stronger responses to 0.05%–0.25% H2. In other words, the GaN nanorods codecorated with Au and Pt nanoparticles show much stronger response to H2 gas than the Au or Pt monometal-decorated counterpart. The underlying mechanism for the enhanced response of the AuPt-codecorated GaN nanowire was discussed.