Tailoring Chemiresistive Nanomaterials Toward Integrated Circuit Compatible Fabrication of Gas Sensors

Many emerging intelligent technologies spring up like mushrooms, such as artificial intelligence, big data and Internet of Things industries, where chemical gas sensors have been regarded as the "electronic nose" that surpasses the limit of human smell. They have been widely applied in various fields, including aerospace, clinical diagnosis and environmental protection. As the heart of gas sensors, various sensitive materials (e.g., metal oxides, conductive polymers, metal chalcogenide) with tailored functions (e.g., hydrophilicity, conductivity, anti-humidity) and microstructures (e.g., porous, roughened surface, heterojunction) have been exploited to realize ultra-sensitive sensor. Driven by the requirement of portability, miniaturization, and wearable devices, the large-scale production of high-efficiency sensors using integrated circuit (IC) technology has become a research hotspot and challenge. In this perspective, the advances about compatible fabrication bridging the well-designed sensitive materials and state-of-art IC techniques for the enhanced gas sensing performance are highlighted, especially about the consistency, stability, and reproducibility of gas sensors. The challenges for building a material database, a data-driven exploration approach, and systemic signal processing are discussed and evaluated. The viewpoints about a new paradigm are provided for the rational design of an integrated gas sensor system, laying the foundation for their extensive and versatile applications in various intelligent scenarios.