This review paper encompasses a detailed study of semiconductor metal oxide (SMO) gas sensors. It provides for a detailed comparison of SMO gas sensors with other gas sensors, especially for ammonia gas sensing. Different parameters which affect the performance (sensitivity, selectivity and stability) of SMO gas sensors are discussed here under. This paper also gives an insight about the dopant or impurity induced variations in the SMO materials used for gas sensing. It is concluded that dopants enhance the properties of SMOs for gas sensing applications by changing their microstructure and morphology, activation energy, electronic structure or band gap of the metal oxides. In some cases, dopants create defects in SMOs by generating oxygen vacancy or by forming solid solutions. These defects enhance the gas sensing properties. Different nanostructures (nanowires, nanotubes, heterojunctions), other than nanopowders have also been studied in this review. At the end, examples of SMOs are given to illustrate the potential use of different SMO materials for gas sensing.

Semiconductor metal oxide gas sensors: A review

Detection of hazardous volatile organic compounds (VOCs) by metal oxide nanostructures-based gas sensors: A review

Graphene, a single, one-atom-thick sheet of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb lattice and the two-dimensional building block for carbon materials, has attracted great interest for a wide range of applications. Due to its superior properties such as thermo-electric conduction, surface area and mechanical strength, graphene materials have inspired huge interest in sensing of various chemical species. In this timely review, we discuss the recent advancement in the field of graphene based gas sensors with emphasis on the use of modified graphene materials. Further, insights of theoretical and experimental aspects associated with such systems are also discussed with significance on the sensitivity and selectivity of graphene towards various gas molecules. The first section introduces graphene, its synthesis methods and its physico-chemical properties. The second part focuses on the theoretical approaches that discuss the structural improvisations of graphene for its effective use as gas sensing materials. The third section discusses the applications of pristine and modified graphene materials in gas sensing applications. Various graphene modification methods are discussed including using dopants and defects, decoration with metal/metal oxide nanoparticles, and functionalization with polymers. Finally, a discussion on the future challenges and perspectives of this enticing field of graphene sensors for gas detection is provided.

Recent advances in graphene based gas sensors

Sensing of gas molecules is critical to environmental monitoring, control of chemical processes, agricultural, and medical applications In particular, the detection of industrial toxic gases such as CO, NO x , and NH 3 is very important for many industries Metal oxides have been widely studied for the sensitivity of their properties to gases even though they do have some limitations Recently, graphene has been considered as a promising material for gas sensing since its electronic properties are strongly affected by the adsorption of foreign molecules Intrinsic graphene has high sensitivity at low gas concentrations; but the sensor selectivity is poor which limits its use in many practical applications Hence, hybrid architectures formed by blending of nanoparticles of metal–oxides with graphene or its derivatives have been explored by several researchers which showed improved gas sensing ability, especially the sensitivity and selectivity at room temperature Here we review the state of the art of gas sensors based on graphene and metal oxide hybrid nanostructures for detection of various common toxic gases

Graphene–metal oxide nanohybrids for toxic gas sensor: A review

Applications of low-cost sensing technologies for air quality monitoring and exposure assessment: How far have they gone?

Sensing technology has been widely investigated and utilized for gas detection. Due to the different applicability and inherent limitations of different gas sensing technologies, researchers have been working on different scenarios with enhanced gas sensor calibration. This paper reviews the descriptions, evaluation, comparison and recent developments in existing gas sensing technologies. A classification of sensing technologies is given, based on the variation of electrical and other properties. Detailed introduction to sensing methods based on electrical variation is discussed through further classification according to sensing materials, including metal oxide semiconductors, polymers, carbon nanotubes, and moisture absorbing materials. Methods based on other kinds of variations such as optical, calorimetric, acoustic and gas-chromatographic, are presented in a general way. Several suggestions related to future development are also discussed. Furthermore, this paper focuses on sensitivity and selectivity for performance indicators to compare different sensing technologies, analyzes the factors that influence these two indicators, and lists several corresponding improved approaches.

Sitian Cheng

Papers

A Survey on Gas Sensing Technology

A Survey on Gas Sensing Technology