Issue 47, 2021

Photoactivated materials and sensors for NO2 monitoring

Abstract

This review presents the recent research efforts and developments in photoactive materials for sensing ppb concentrations of NO2. It also includes the fundamentals of photoactivated gas sensing and enabling technologies for achieving light-activated gas microsensors. The discussion addresses the most common strategies to improve photoactivity in gas-sensitive materials, including tuning surface vacancies in semiconductor materials and forming nanoscale interfaces based on metal–semiconductor or semiconductor–semiconductor junctions. The data point to gas-sensitive materials containing ZnO as the most representative NO2 photoresponsive semiconductors. Besides, the review summarises novel photoactive materials with promising NO2 sensitivity, such as transition metal dichalcogenides, organic semiconductors, and organo-functional structures. The literature shows that photoactivated gas sensors have competitive detection limits and form factors with their commercial counterparts. Further improvements to these sensing components by using material engineering and microfabrication technologies are forecasted to enable their practical applications.

Graphical abstract: Photoactivated materials and sensors for NO2 monitoring

Article information

Article type
Review Article
Submitted
07 Sep 2021
Accepted
31 Okt 2021
First published
01 Nov 2021
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021,9, 16804-16827

Photoactivated materials and sensors for NO2 monitoring

M. Šetka, M. Claros, O. Chmela and S. Vallejos, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2021, 9, 16804 DOI: 10.1039/D1TC04247E

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