Patent ID: 7839499

Claim:
A hydrogen sensor, comprising: a sampling line for receiving a gas sample; a plasma gas source; a plasma gas line for receiving plasma gas from the plasma gas source; a microplasma generator that receives the gas sample and plasma gas and provides energy to the plasma gas sufficient to create an atmospheric pressure microplasma therefrom, the atmosphere microplasma having a discharge volume on the microliter scale and having energy sufficient to electronically excite hydrogen present in the gas sample, thereby producing light emission from hydrogen present in the gas sample; a DC power supply for supplying power to the microplasma generator, a spectrometer in communication with the microplasma generator for obtaining a light emission spectrum from hydrogen present in the gas sample, and in communication with said spectrometer, a programmable computer adapted for analyzing the light emission spectrum to determine whether or not hydrogen is present in the gas sample.