Abstract

Catalyst size affects the overall kinetics and mechanism of almost all heterogeneous chemical reactions. Since the functional sensing materials in resistive chemical sensors are practically the very same nanomaterials as the catalysts in heterogeneous chemistry, a plausible question arises: Is there any effect of the catalyst size on the sensor properties? Our study attempts to give an insight into the problem by analyzing the response and sensitivity of resistive H₂ sensors based on WO₃ nanowire supported Pt nanoparticles having size of 1.5±0.4 nm, 6.2±0.8 nm, 3.7±0.5 nm and 8.3±1.3 nm. The results show that Pt nanoparticles of larger size are more active in H₂ sensing than their smaller counterparts and indicate that the detection mechanism is more complex than just considering the number of surface atoms of the catalyst.