Low power microheater-based combustible gas sensor with graphene aerogel catalyst support

This paper reports a microheater-based combustible gas sensor with ultra-low power consumption (1.4 mW) using pulsed heating and novel sensing materials. High surface area graphene aerogel is used as a support for platinum and palladium nanoparticles. Pulsed heating (450 °C) at a 10% duty cycle yields an order of magnitude reduction in power consumption with no loss of sensitivity. Sensing response to hydrogen and propane gas shows promising selectivity and order of magnitude faster response and recovery times (1-2 s) compared to previous work. The results indicate a high level of flexibility in creating selective, low power combustible gas sensors using this microheater platform and catalytic material system.