A novel hydrogen gas sensor based on hydrogen uranyl phosphate

The layered hydrate HUO₂PO₄·4H₂O is known to be a good selective proton conductor at room temperature. We have shown that the conductivity is dependent on the pressure of water vapour and good long term stability is obtained even at current densities as high as 5 mA/cm². The construction of porous composite electrodes of Pt and Pd is described and their use in hydrogen concentration cells is demonstrated. Furthermore, it is shown that these concentration cells give the correct voltage according to Nernst's law.     

Time-domain fiber laser hydrogen sensor

We report a novel scheme for a fiber-optic hydrogen sensor based on an erbium-doped fiber laser with a palladium-coated tapered fiber within the laser cavity. The tapered fiber acts as a hydrogen-sensing element. When the sensing element is exposed to a hydrogen atmosphere, its attenuation decreases, changing the cavity losses and leading to a modification of the laser transient. The hydrogen concentration is obtained by simple measurement of the buildup time of the laser. This technique translates the measurement of hydrogen concentration into the time domain, and it can be extended to many intensity-based fiber sensors. Relative variations in the buildup time of up to 55% at an increase of the hydrogen concentration from 0 to 10% are achieved with a resolution of better than 0.1%.     

Nafion based amperometric hydrogen sensor

A Nafion based amperometric hydrogen sensor that operates at room temperature has been developed. The electrolyte used in the sensor is Nafion 117, which is a proton conducting solid polymer electrolyte. Palladium catalyst was used on the sensing side and platinum supported on carbon on the air side. The sensor functions as fuel cell, H₂/Pd//Nafion//Pt/O₂ and the short circuit current is measured. The short circuit current is found to be linear with respect to concentration of hydrogen on the sensing side. The sensor is able to detect the concentration of hydrogen in argon down to ppb level. Details of assembly of the sensor, response behavior and applications are discussed. Paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Ionic Devices, Anna University, Chennai, India, Nov. 28–30, 2003.     

Mixed potential type hydrogen sensor

The principle of potentiometric hydrogen sensors based on protonic conductors is reviewed. The origin of the potentiometric response in inert gas (Nernst potential) and in air (mixed potential) is discussed. It is shown that the nature of the sensing electrode as well as the morphology influence the mixed potential response. The properties of the solid-state internal reference electrode are also examined and discussed. A H⁺ reversible electrode based on quinhydrone is described. Then, an example of solid-state potentiometric hydrogen sensor is presented. The device incorporates a protonic polymer electrolyte based on polybenzimidazole, a Pt gas diffusion electrode or a Pt grid as sensing electrode and a reference electrode based on Ag-AgCl. The sensing characteristics in nitrogen and dry air are reported. Paper presented at the 9th EuroConference on Ionics, Ixia, Rhodes, Greece, Sept. 15 – 21, 2002.     

Self-assembled monolayer growth on chemically modified polymer surfaces

We report a study of the self-assembled monolayer (SAM) growth of bis[3(triethoxysilane)propyl]tetrasulfide (Tetrasulfide) on low dielectric constant (low-k) aromatic hydrocarbon SiLK whose surface chemistry was modified using sulfuric acid, He plasma treatment, and N₂ plasma treatment. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) spectra show that there is no detectable growth of Tetrasulfide SAM on untreated SiLK surfaces. After the SiLK surfaces have been treated with sulfuric acid, He plasma, or N₂ plasma, the original chemically inert polymer surfaces are functionalized with polar groups resulting in a significant improvement of their wettability, which is confirmed by their reduction of water droplet contact angles. The introduction of polar functional groups thus facilitates the formation of Tetrasulfide SAM on the polymer surfaces. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis shows an insignificant change in the surface morphology after the growth of Tetrasulfide SAM on the chemically modified SiLK surfaces. Quantitative XPS analysis also showed that Tetrasulfide SAM growth is more prominent on He and N₂ plasma treated surfaces than those treated by sulfuric acid.     

基于声表面波的氢气传感器*

将钯基材料对氢气分子的特异选择性吸附能力与声表面波的快速响应特点相结合,可实现一种快速、高灵敏和低功耗的氢气检测与报警技术。传感器由双通道差分式振荡器与沉积在传感器件表面的声表面波传播路径上的钯基气敏薄膜组成。为提升传感器响应速度,该文探讨了采用钯镍合金薄膜与钯铜纳米线作为气敏材料的氢气传感器响应特性,通过对气敏材料制备方法及参数的优化,研制了两种沉积不同钯基气敏材料的氢气传感器件,并对其性能进行了评测。实验测试结果表明:钯铜纳米线气敏材料由于具有大体积表面积比和多孔结构,大幅提高了SAW氢气传感器响应速度,针对浓度为10%、4%以及0.5%的氢气响应时间可达～2s。     

一种新型微镜式光纤氢传感器的研究

介绍了光纤氢传感器的应用背景和工作原理,分析了其中的微镜式传感器。针对在垂直入射、单次反射方式下工作的微镜式光纤氢传感器,提出了多次反射的传感器模型。从金属光反射模型出发,研究了入射角、反射次数对探测灵敏度的影响。论证了通过多次反射来提高传感器探测灵敏度的可行性。     

混合型大电流光纤传感器的研究

本文叙述了混合合型大电流光纤传感器的工作原理及制作方法.以LED作光源、PIN作接收、火石玻璃为磁感应材料、多模光纤作导光波导的混合型大电流光纤传感器,用于监视高压电网系统中的电流.适用范围10~2～10~4A,精度±0.5%.     

LED pumped polymer laser sensor for explosives

A very compact explosive vapor sensor is demonstrated based on a distributed feedback polymer laser pumped by a commercial InGaN light‐emitting diode. The laser shows a two‐stage turn on of the laser emission, for pulsed drive currents above 15.7 A. The ‘double‐threshold’ phenomenon is attributed to the slow rise of the ∼30 ns duration LED pump pulses. The laser emits a 533 nm pulsed output beam of ∼10 ns duration perpendicular to the polymer film. When exposed to nitroaromatic model explosive vapors at ∼8 ppb concentration, the laser shows a 46% change in the surface‐emitted output under optimized LED excitation.     

Studies on modified power law inflation

In this study, we evaluate power law inflation (PLI) with a monomial potential and obtain a novel exact solution. It is well known that the conventional PLI with an exponential potential is inconsistent with the Planck data. Unlike the standard PLI, the present model does not encounter the graceful exit problem, and the results agree fairly well with recent observations. In our analysis, we calculate the spectral index and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, both of which agree very well with recent observational data and are comparable with those of other modified inflationary models. The employed technique reveals that the large cosmological constant decreases with the expansion of the universe in the case of the PLI. The coupling of the inflaton with gravitation is the primary factor in this technique. The basic assumption here is that the two metric tensors in the gravitational and inflaton parts correspond to different conformal frames, which contradicts with the conventional PLI, where the inflaton is directly coupled with the background metric tensor. This fact has direct applications to different dark energy models and the assisted quintessence theory.     

聚合物材料并联双环型温度传感器的设计

利用聚合物材料折射率和温度变化之间的内在联系,设计了一种并联双环温度传感器系统,并数值模拟了以该模型为基础的聚合物材料并联双环型温度传感器。从输出的模拟波谱可以得到,随着温度的变化,输出光谱的谐振峰出现明显的位移,对于热光系数较大的聚合物材料,谐振峰的位移更加明显。温度升高1℃,谐振峰的位移为32nm。通过谐振峰的位移,可以计算出温度的变化,进一步提高测量温度的精确度。     

Fe alloying effect on the performance of the Ni anode in hydrogen fuel

Composite materials of YSZ (yttria-stabilized zirconia) with various Ni–Fe alloys were synthesized and evaluated as the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) anode using a 200-µm thick YSZ electrolyte as support and YSZ +La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ (LSM) as cathode. The single cell with the YSZ + Ni_0.75Fe_0.25 anode exhibited the highest performance among all the investigated cells, e.g. a peak power density of 403, 337, 218 and 112 mW/cm² was achieved with H₂ fuel at 900, 850, 800 and 750 °C, respectively. The composite anode with the Ni_0.75Fe_0.25 alloy also had the lowest polarization resistance of 0.55 Ω·cm² at 800 °C among all the alloy compositions, indicating that this specific alloy offered a better anode composition than pure Ni. The possible mechanism for the improved performance of Ni with the Fe alloying addition towards H₂ oxidation was discussed.     

Soluble polymer layers as an anode buffer for organic light-emitting diodes

A polymeric layer for an anode buffer is a promising organic light-emitting diode (OLED) component providing some merits such as mechanical film robustness, high temperature stability, smoothened surface and fabrication convenience. In this study, the comparison between some polymeric anode buffer systems for small molecule-based OLEDs was carried out. The device with BFE buffer, one of the well-known conjugated polymers with a triphenylamine moiety, shows the best performances which are further improved by annealing BFE layer at a high temperature of 250 °C.     

Hydrogenase-based nanomaterials as anode electrode catalyst in polymer electrolyte fuel cells

We consider hydrogenase-based nanomaterials for possible use as anode electrode catalysts in polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs). We choose Fe-only hydrogenase component of Desulfovibrio desulfuricans (DdHase) as a hydrogenase complex, and investigate its catalytic activity for H₂ dissociation using ab initio calculations based on density functional theory (DFT). We found two possible H-H bond cleavage pathways, which are heterolytic and possess low activation barriers. Moreover, the H₂ dissociation can be promoted by inducing spin polarization of the H₂ adduct. We report that hydrogenase or hydrogenase-based nanomaterials can manipulate to exhibit the catalytic activity equivalent to the well-known platinum catalyst.     

Oxygen dependency of the hydrogen sensor based on high-temperature proton conductors

Oxygen dependency of the hydrogen sensor using high-temperature proton conductors with titanium/titanium hydride solid reference material was studied. It was found that the oxygen in a measuring atmosphere led to a considerable p-type conduction which was responsible for the instability of the sensor electromagnetic field (EMF). The sensor EMF increased continuously due to the insertion of protons and decreased due to the depletion of protons upon exposure to an oxidizing atmosphere. It is revealed that the EMF behavior of the sensor is decided by the electronic conduction that relatively changed with hydrogen concentration in a highly oxidizing atmosphere. The transient behavior of the hydrogen sensor under various atmospheres containing oxygen was discussed in this work.     

一种表面具有纳米孔穴的聚合物绝缘子

绝缘体表面结构和微观形貌对提高器件真空闪络特性有重要影响。首次提出了表面具有均匀分布纳米级空穴聚合物绝缘子的化学制备方法。通过本体聚合制备纳米级二氧化硅颗粒均匀分布的交联聚苯乙烯复合材料,机械加工成聚合物绝缘子后,采用氢氟酸化学腐蚀的方法将绝缘子表面氧化物颗粒去除。采用透射电子显微镜、表面电阻率和短脉冲高压测试平台分别对处理前后绝缘子的表面形貌和绝缘等性能进行了表征,结果表明：处理后的交联聚苯乙烯复合材料绝缘子的表面形成了20~50 nm直径的空穴,空穴的大小和数量分布分别由二氧化硅颗粒的粒径和加入量控制。这种具有特殊表面结构的新型绝缘子的沿面闪络电压较纯交联聚苯乙烯绝缘子提高了15%~20%,并保持了较好的力学及加工性能。研究方法和实验结果对聚合物绝缘子的表面结构设计及高性能绝缘子的研制提供了一种新的途径。     

一种表面具有纳米孔穴的聚合物绝缘子

绝缘体表面结构和微观形貌对提高器件真空闪络特性有重要影响。首次提出了表面具有均匀分布纳米级空穴聚合物绝缘子的化学制备方法。通过本体聚合制备纳米级二氧化硅颗粒均匀分布的交联聚苯乙烯复合材料,机械加工成聚合物绝缘子后,采用氢氟酸化学腐蚀的方法将绝缘子表面氧化物颗粒去除。采用透射电子显微镜、表面电阻率和短脉冲高压测试平台分别对处理前后绝缘子的表面形貌和绝缘等性能进行了表征,结果表明:处理后的交联聚苯乙烯复合材料绝缘子的表面形成了20~50 nm直径的空穴,空穴的大小和数量分布分别由二氧化硅颗粒的粒径和加入量控制。这种具有特殊表面结构的新型绝缘子的沿面闪络电压较纯交联聚苯乙烯绝缘子提高了15%~20%,并保持了较好的力学及加工性能。研究方法和实验结果对聚合物绝缘子的表面结构设计及高性能绝缘子的研制提供了一种新的途径。     

OPE molecular junction as a hydrogen gas sensor

Oligo(phenylene ethynylene) (OPE) molecular junction has been suggested as a H₂ molecule sensor based on calculations using the first principles of density–functional theory and non-equilibrium Green's function. The electronic transport properties of the OPE molecule between two Au electrodes with or without adsorbed H₂ molecules are investigated. Results show that the adsorbed H₂ molecule significantly changes the characteristics of the current–voltage curve of the OPE molecular junction. The pure OPE molecular junction exhibits a significant negative differential resistance, but this kind of phenomenon will disappear or weaken after hydrogen molecules are adsorbed. The conductance of the junction also obviously decreases in the bias range of [−0.4, 0.4] V after adsorbing H₂ molecules. These effects can be used to design a H₂ molecule sensor.     

Bathocuproine/Ag复合电极对于聚合物光伏器件效率和稳定性的影响

采用Bathocuproine/Ag (BCP/Ag)复合电极代替Ca/Al复合电极, 制备PTB7:PC71BM 作为光敏层的聚合物光伏器件, 并通过改变BCP薄膜厚度来研究BCP/Ag复合电极对于器件光电转换器和稳定性的影响. 研究发现: 在光敏层和金属电极之间插入BCP修饰层后, 器件性能得到了显著的改善, 在BCP厚度为5 nm时, 器件的效率达到了6.82%, 且略高于Ca/Al复合电极的器件效率; 相比于采用Ca/Al复合电极的器件, BCP/Ag复合电极增大了器件的短路电流和外量子效率, 使器件效率得到提高; 同时器件的稳定性得到了显著的改善, BCP/Ag 复合电极器件的衰减速率几乎和未插入BCP的器件衰减速率相同, 相对于Ca/Al复合电极器件大幅提高.     

Anionic nonconjugated polyelectrolyte as an anode interfacial layer for polymer solar cells

Since the most high-performing donor polymers in polymer solar cells (PSCs) possessed the deep highest occupied molecular orbital (HOMO) level, interfacial engineering on anode contact is becoming increasingly important. Herein, we demonstrated efficient PSCs using an anionic poly(styrene sulfonate) (PSS) as an anode interfacial layer (AIL). With the formation of the dipole layer, the effective work function (WF) of indium tin oxide (ITO) electrode is significantly increased from 4.8 to 5.3 eV, providing favorable energetic alignment to the quasi-Fermi level of various donor polymers. Moreover, by incorporating cationic polyelectrolytes as a cathode interfacial layer, a pair of electric dipole layers induces a strong built-in electric field across the photoactive layer to drive efficient sweep-out of photogenerated charges. Consequently, the device with PSS AIL exhibited high power conversion efficiencies of 9.2 and 14.8% in PTB7-Th:PC₇₁BM- and PM6:Y6-based PSCs, respectively, both of which are higher than those of the devices with PEDOT:PSS.