SENSORS AND DEVICES CONTAINING ULTRA-SMALL NANOWIRE ARRAYS

• Main Author: XIAO ZHILI
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 07.05.2015
• Subjects: ALLOYS; CHEMISTRY; FERROUS OR NON-FERROUS ALLOYS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; INVESTIGATING OR ANALYSING MATERIALS BY DETERMINING THEIRCHEMICAL OR PHYSICAL PROPERTIES; MANUFACTURE OR TREATMENT OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASUREMENT OR ANALYSIS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; MEASURING; METALLURGY; NANOTECHNOLOGY; PERFORMING OPERATIONS; PHYSICS; SPECIFIC USES OR APPLICATIONS OF NANOSTRUCTURES; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER US CLASSIFICATION; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ARTCOLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS; TESTING; TRANSPORTING; TREATMENT OF ALLOYS OR NON-FERROUS METALS

A network of nanowires may be used for a sensor. The nanowires are metallic, each nanowire has a thickness of at most 20 nm, and each nanowire has a width of at most 20 nm. The sensor may include nanowires comprising Pd, and the sensor may sense a change in hydrogen concentration from 0 to 100%. A device may include the hydrogen sensor, such as a vehicle, a fuel cell, a hydrogen storage tank, a facility for manufacturing steel, or a facility for refining petroleum products.