Bimetallic Ag-Pd nanoparticles decorated ZnO nanorods for efficient hydrogen sensing

The current study aims to understand the interactions between the gaseous species with zinc oxide surface in the presence of bimetallic alloy Ag-Pd nanoparticles. To achieve this goal, we have synthesized well-known nanorod-like structures of ZnO via the facile hydrothermal route and further decorated these structures with several combinations of Ag-Pd bimetallic alloy nanoparticles. The fabricated samples proceeded to characterizations with X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy to evaluate and validate the morphological and structural parameters and elemental constituents. Finally, the synthesized materials were deployed to the interdigitated electrodes to fabricate the gas sensor devices. And the gas sensor devices were tested for various gases to investigate the interaction of gases with the material employing resistance change. The sensor with a 1:1 Ag:Pd/ZnO sample has shown the highest selective response of 51.36 at 275 °C temperature towards 100 ppm of H₂ gas. Finally, a possible mechanism of interaction is also discussed.