Room-temperature light-activated chemical sensors for gas monitoring and applications: a review

Abstract The rapid growth of wearable electronic and integrated multifunctional devices has aroused a great deal of interest in developing chemical sensors that operate at room temperature. Among them, light-activated chemical sensors have shown great application potentials in gas detection because of the room temperature operation, humidity resistance, feasibility in flexible integration and low energy consumption. This review aims to offer an overview of research progress on the sensing mechanism, sensitive materials, device configurations and related applications of room temperature light-activated chemical sensors in gas detection for both environmental monitoring and breath analysis. Finally, the opportunities and challenges for the future development of light-activated chemical sensors is discussed in detail.