Simple CuO-based hydrogen sensors at room temperature
usually need
to be used with precious metals. In this work, a p-CuO/n-Si hydrogen sensor with a nanoconvexity structure
is conceived as an effective room-temperature hydrogen sensor without
the precious metal decoration. The convexity-like nanostructure was
induced on the n-Si substrate surface using the femtosecond
(fs) laser direct writing technique. After hydrofluoric acid (HF)
treatment, a layer of a p-CuO nanofilm was sputtered
to fabricate a pn-junction hydrogen sensor (CuO/fs-Si). The sensor
can work at room temperature when hydrogen concentration ranges from
100 to 30,000 ppm. At a hydrogen concentration of 10,000 ppm, the
response time constant is 216 s. As a comparison, it is found that
a pn-junction-type CuO/Si sensor without fs laser processing (CuO/Si)
cannot detect hydrogen with a concentration of less than 10,000 ppm.
The nanostructured Si surface improves the sensitivity of the sensor
and reduces the detection limit. Operating at room temperature reduces
the energy consumption of the sensor and improves applicability. A
simple p-CuO/n-Si bilayer structure
provides an alternative idea to develop miniaturized, low-power, compatible,
and integrated hydrogen sensors.