Recent Trends of Light-enhanced Metal Oxide Gas Sensors: Review

Recent light-enhanced metal oxide gas sensors are reviewed in this article. The basic mechanisms of a light-enhanced metal oxide gas sensor are discussed. Many literatures reveal that the standalone sensitivity and the response/recovery time enhancements enabled by the exposing light are not as high as the performance enhancement provided by external heating. Therefore, both optimal amount of external heating and exposed light intensity are necessary to increase the performance of these light-enhanced gas sensors. The development of highly light sensitive materials and structures is important to lower the overall power consumptions of the sensors.