Abstract
Gas detectors have attracted considerable attention for monitoring harmful gases and air pollution because of industry development and the ongoing interest in human health. On the other hand, conventional high-temperature gas detectors are unsuitable for safely detecting harmful gases at high activation temperatures. Photo-activated gas detectors improve gas sensing performance at room temperature and enable low-power operation. This review presents a timely overview of photo-activated gas detectors that use illuminated light instead of thermal energy. Illuminated light assists in gas detection and is classified as visible or ultraviolet light. The research on photo-activated gas detectors is organized according to the type of gas that can be intensively detected. In addition, a development strategy for advancing photo-activated gas detectors is discussed.