Review and Perspective: Gas Separation and Discrimination Technologies for Current Gas Sensors in Environmental Applications

Presently, numerous state-of-the-art approaches are being adapted for gas sensing and monitoring. These include hazardous gas leak detection as well as ambient air monitoring. Photoionization detectors, electrochemical sensors, and optical infrared sensors are a few of the commonly widely used technologies. Extensive reviews on the current state of gas sensors have been summarized. These sensors, which are either nonselective or semiselective, are affected by unwanted analytes. On the other hand, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) can be heavily mixed in many vapor intrusion situations. To determine the individual VOCs in a highly mixed gas sample using nonselective or semiselective gas sensors, gas separation and discrimination technologies are highly warranted. These technologies include gas permeable membranes, metal-organic frameworks, microfluidics and IR bandpass filters for different sensors, respectively. The majority of these gas separation and discrimination technologies are currently being developed and evaluated in laboratory-controlled environments and have not yet been extensively utilized in the field for vapor intrusion monitoring. These technologies show promise for continued development and application in the field for more complex gas mixtures. Hence, the present review focuses on the perspectives and a summary of the existing gas separation and discrimination technologies for the currently popular reported gas sensors in environmental applications.