氢气作为高效洁净的二次能源备受关注,但由于氢气无色无味、易爆炸,因此在使用的过程中必须对环境中的氢气进行检查。这就决定了氢气传感器在现代工业、燃料电池及氢的贮存和分离等的氢检测方面有着重要的应用。开发灵敏度高、选择性和稳定性好的氢气传感器一直是传感器领域研究的重要方向。由于具有独特的物理化学性质、高的比表面积和优越的电子特性,碳纳米材料常作为氢气传感器的敏感材料的载体。碳纳米复合材料在吸附氢气之后,其电子性质会发生变化,利用这个性质可以实现对氢气的检测。本文就碳纳米材料与金属纳米粒子、金属氧化物、聚合物的复合材料的氢敏感材料进行了系统的分析,综述了近年来基于碳纳米材料的氢气传感器的研究进展,并对氢气传感器的应用前景和发展趋势进行了展望,指出了需要研究的科学问题。
Hydrogen is a clean and versatile energy source but it is hazardous and highly explosive in air atmosphere due to colorless and tasteless. Despite of these safety disadvantages, hydrogen provides the best route to a sustainable ideal fuel for future. Thus hydrogen sensor has important applications in modern industry, including fuel cell, hydrogen storage and separation,etc . Development of hydrogen sensor with high sensitivity, selectivity and stability has been an important topic in the field of sensor research. Carbon-based nanomaterials have unique physical and chemical properties, high surface area and excellent electronic properties, which are often used as sensitive materials for hydrogen sensor. Nanocarbon based materials show extreme sensitivity towards changes that stems from the susceptibility of their electronic structure to interacting hydrogen molecules. This chemical sensitivity has made them ideal candidates for incorporation into the design of hydrogen sensors. The performance of three nanocarbon based composites (nanocarbon-based materials/metal nanoparticles composite, nanocarbon-based materials/metal oxide composite, nanocarbon-based materials/polymer composite) is analyzed systematically in this paper. Characteristic performance parameters of these sensors, including measuring range, sensitivity, selectivity, response time and lifetime are reviewed and the latest technology developments are reported. In addition, the application prospect and future outlook of hydrogen sensor are addressed. The key issues needed to be solved are also discussed.