Porous silicon based hydrogen sensors

Porous silicon based hydrogen sensors Book Chapter

Ramgir, NS, Bhansali, S. (2007). Porous silicon based hydrogen sensors . 333-350.

Hydrogen, promising fuel for the clean energy of tomorrow is increasingly being used for commercial and technological applications (such as feedstock, transport, space exploration). It's wide spread has necessitated the development of sensor platforms to detect leaks and low concentrations of hydrogen to ensure its safe use. A major effort is currently under way to develop sensors for detecting hydrogen below its lower explosion limit of 4 % in air. Of the various existing materials, porous silicon (PS) looks to be a promising candidate for the development of a low cost, highly sensitive and selective hydrogen sensor. This chapter presents a detailed overview of PS fabrication and its post processing to develop it into a hydrogen sensor. The limitations and scope of different sensing modalities (for sensing H2) leveraging the PS architecture are also discussed. © 2010 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.