Room Temperature Hydrogen Gas Sensing via Reversible Hydrogenation of Electrochemically Deposited Polycarbazole on Interdigitated Pt Transducers

Abstract

In this study, polycarbazole (PCz) is presented as a receptor structure for chemoresistive hydrogen sensors. The fabrication of the proposed sensors via electropolymerisation of PCz on interdigitated Pt electrodes is an inexpensive, cost-efficient, and repeatable method. Preliminary results presented in this work show that PCz-based sensors are sensitive to hydrogen gas in the range of 1–4% in air at room temperature. Notably, responses are both relatively high (from approximately 280% for 1% of H2) and rapid (response and recovery times for 1% H2 from 5 s and up to 32 s, respectively). Results of PCz structures on Pt and Au electrodes prove that the application of Pt electrodes is crucial for observation of sensing effect. A sensing mechanism based on reversible hydrogenation of PCz is proposed to explain the sensor operating principles.

The Role of Electrochemical and Spectroelectrochemical Techniques in the Preparation and Characterization of Conjugated Polymers: From Polyaniline to Modern Organic Semiconductors

“…Significant achievements included, in particular, the study of the mechanisms of polyaniline formation and the doping mechanisms of many polymers. Years of research have led to many organic semiconductors being tested in applications such as organic light-emitting diodes (OLEDs) [ 7 , 8 ] sensors [ 9 , 10 , 11 ] and solar cells. Electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical techniques used for investigating the properties of conjugated polymers are briefly presented in the manuscript.…”