A hydrogen gas sensor with a substrate and a zinc oxide nanostructured thin film deposited on the substrate, wherein the zinc oxide nanostructured thin film has a lattice structure with a weight ratio of low binding energy O2− ions to medium binding energy oxygen vacancies in a range of 0.1 to 1.0, and a method of fabricating a gas sensor by thermally oxidizing a metal thin film under low oxygen partial pressure. Various combinations of embodiments of the hydrogen gas sensor and the method of fabricating the gas sensor are provided.