Alloy engineering provides a powerful route to tune the reactivity and selectivity of Pd based hydrogen sensors operating in complex gas environments. Mesoporous SnO2, with its high surface area, interconnected pore network, and abundant adsorption sites, is an ideal support for such engineered nanostructures; these features promote efficient gas diffusion and uniform metal dispersion, thereby amplifying the catalytic and electronic contributions of Pd alloys.
In this work, we integrate composition controlled Pd–Co and Pd–Cu alloy nanostructures with mesoporous SnO2 to systematically investigate how alloying and Co loading influence sensing performance toward H2, CO, CO2, and CH4. Gas response measurements reveal that appropriate Co incorporation dramatically enhances H2 sensitivity while suppressing cross responses to CO and CH4 and shifts the optimal operating temperature window. Pd–Cu/m SnO2 exhibits distinct selectivity trends and redox behavior, which we probe using temperature programmed reduction (TPR) to uncover alloy–oxide interactions and hydrogen uptake pathways that differ fundamentally from Pd and Pd–Co.
Together, these results demonstrate that the synergistic integration of mesoporous SnO2 with composition tuned Pd alloys enables tunable selectivity, faster response kinetics, and improved stability, providing a materials engineering framework for next generation hydrogen sensors in multi gas industrial environments.
Project is currently funded by: State & Other Govt