Skip to main content

Table 1 Characteristics of commonly used sensor units

From: Artificial olfactory sensor technology that mimics the olfactory mechanism: a comprehensive review

Sensor type

Strengths

Weaknesses

Metal oxide (MO)-electrochemical sensors [71,72,73]

High sensitivity, target diversity, short response time, easy to dissociate, convenient replacement

High energy required, inaccurate readings (sensor drift), controlled environment, controlled setting (vacuum), streaky fabrication

Surface acoustic waves (SAW) [74, 75]

High sensitivity, target diversity, short response time, diverse range of coatings, concise configuration

High cost, high energy required, complex circuitry, commercialization, controlled temperature, reproducibility

Conductive polymer (CP) [66, 67]

High sensitivity, short response times, low cost, room temperature operation, diverse range of coatings

Low durability (weak), inaccurate readings (sensor drift), complex synthetic process

Organic dye-based colorimetric sensors [76, 77]

Excellent intuition, small, no external power required, portable, convenient

Low sensitivity, complex manufacturing process

Biomimetic biosensors [78,79,80,81,82]

Excellent intuition, small, no external power required, portable, convenient, high sensitivity, high selectivity, wide compatibility, eco-friendly

Lack of standardization, limited mass production

Optical sensors [83,84,85]

Very high sensitivity, low energy consumption, individual response (compounds mixture analysis), quick response.

High cost, complex construction, difficult to make portable system

Mass spectroscopy (MS) [76, 77]

Short response time, high sensitivity and stability, enables qualitative and quantitative analysis, universal detector

High cost, complex construction (spectrometer), response time, difficulty of field analysis