Nanostructuring of catalysts, such as Pd, is of interest for exploiting their unique surface properties cost-effectively for various applications, especially high-dose hydrogen sensing and storage. Although various Pd modifications have been reported, they have a drawback of structural instability in applications involving high hydrogen doses. Thus, our development of a multilayered Pd-Ni nanocatalyst (PN, three Pd and two Ni layers) is proposed. Here we show the confined self-alloying of Pd and Ni at their interfaces, forming ultrathin 2D-like PdNix layers that facilitate ultrafast hydrogen detection over a wide range (20 ppm to 100 %, workable at 25–100°C) with extraordinary reversibility (> 30,000 cycles, tested at 100°C). That phenomenon of our 11-nm-thick nanocatalyst is justified through experimental measurements and simulation. Thereby, the obtained results revealed the high potency of our PN with the confined self-alloying for high-dose and wide-range hydrogen sensing applications and showed a new way to construct better catalytic nanosystems at low cost.
This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea ( 2018H1D3A1A02074733 , 2018R1D1A1B07050008 ) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT . In addition, it was supported by the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (Project No: (20203030040030) and Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (Project No: (20010394) funded by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea . This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (a US DOE Office of Science Facility) and the Scientific Data and Computing Center (a component of the Computational Science Initiative) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Contract No. DE-SC0012704). Computing time was provided by the National Institute of Supercomputing and Network, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KSC-2018-CRE-0078). This work was also supported by Ajou University . Authors thanks Prof. Ji-Yong Park at Ajou University for SPM equipment support.This research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea (2018H1D3A1A02074733, 2018R1D1A1B07050008) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT. In addition, it was supported by the Korea Energy Technology Evaluation and Planning (Project No: (20203030040030) and Korea Evaluation Institute of Industrial Technology (Project No: (20010394) funded by Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Republic of Korea. This research used resources of the Center for Functional Nanomaterials (a US DOE Office of Science Facility) and the Scientific Data and Computing Center (a component of the Computational Science Initiative) at Brookhaven National Laboratory (Contract No. DE-SC0012704). Computing time was provided by the National Institute of Supercomputing and Network, Korea Institute of Science and Technology Information (KSC-2018-CRE-0078). This work was also supported by Ajou University. Authors thanks Prof. Ji-Yong Park at Ajou University for SPM equipment support.Dr. L. T. Duy has worked with Prof. H. Seo’s group at Ajou University after finishing the integrated M.S./Ph.D. program from Sungkyunkwan University in 2017. He was one of the selected candidates for Korea Research Fellowship (KRF) in 2018, funded by National Research Foundation of Korea. Currently, his current research is the development of nanocatalysts and functional materials for wearable sensors and energy devices.