Enhanced NH3 and H2 gas sensing with H2S gas interference using multilayer SnO2/Pt/WO3 nanofilms

The selective detection and classification of NH3 and H2S gases with H2S gas interference based on conventional SnO2 thin film sensors is still the main problem. In this work, three layers of SnO2/Pt/WO3 nanofilms with different WO3 thicknesses (50, 80, 140, and 260 nm) were fabricated using the sputtering technique. The WO3 top layer were used as a gas filter to further improve the selectivity of sensors. The effect of WO3 thickness on the (NH3, H2, and H2S) gas-sensing properties of the sensors was investigated. At the optimal WO3 thickness of 140 nm, the gas responses of SnO2/Pt/WO3 sensors toward NH3 and H2 gases were slightly lower than those of Pt/SnO2 sensor film, and the gas response of SnO2/Pt/WO3 sensor films to H2S gas was almost negligible. The calcification of NH3 and H2 gases was effectively conducted by machine learning algorithms. These evidences manifested that SnO2/Pt/WO3 sensor films are suitable for the actual NH3 detection of NH3 and H2S gases. [Display omitted] •The three layers of the SnO2/Pt/WO3 nanofilms based-gas sensor have been developed.•The SnO2/Pt/WO3 nanofilms can detect NH3 and H2 gases at low concentrations.•The classification of NH3 and H2 gases is made by machine learning algorithms.•The cross-response of sensors to interfering gas such as H2S were almost eliminated.•The gas filter mechanism was explained by the molecular size of the tested gases.