LEVANTO - Visible light activated gas sensors based on semiconductors: an operando investigation by DRIFT and confocal micro-Raman spectroscopy

Gas sensors play a crucial role in modern technology and are employed in a wide range of fields, spanning from environment to healthcare and industry. Commonly used chemiresistive gas sensors, due to the high operating temperature necessary to activate chemical reactions at the surface for the majority of semiconductors, do not completely match the requirements imposed by the current innovation paradigm, addressed to a safe, green and reduced power-consumption technology. Therefore, the search for diverse sensing materials which embrace novel activation mechanisms is of groundbreaking importance. The use of visible light to activate gas sensitivity in semiconductors is a further, fundamental step towards the design of gas sensors with low power consumption and improved selectivity. In this respect, the LEVANTO project aims at the study and exploitation of the gas sensing mechanisms, which lead to response formation of visible light activated semiconductors.