Metal Oxide Nanostructures for Solid State Gas Sensors: A Recent Patent Survey

The development of high performance solid state chemical sensors is nowadays of outmost importance in many advanced technological fields. In the near future, nano-technology can give an impressive help in manufacturing chemical sensors with the required enhanced characteristics. In this regard, nanostructured metal oxides are attracting much interest in gas-sensing applications due to their unique chemical, physical and electrical properties, leading to superior performance over bulk counterparts. In this review we provide an up dated overview about the synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures for gas sensing applications found in the literature patent. The strategies related to the synthesis of metal oxide nanostructures, with a particular attention to chemical routes, aimed to improve the characteristics (sensitivity, selectivity, working temperature, etc.) of metal oxide semiconducting (MOS) sensors, will be reviewed. Examples regarding practical applications of MOS sensors in many advanced technological fields will be also shown.