Metal-oxide-semiconductor (MOS) based gas sensors have been considered a promising candidate for gas detection over the past few years. However, the sensing properties of MOS-based gas sensors also need to be further enhanced to satisfy the higher requirements for specific applications, such as medical diagnosis based on human breath, gas detection in harsh environments, etc. In these fields, excellent selectivity, low power consumption, a fast response/recovery rate, low humidity dependence and a low limit of detection concentration should be fulfilled simultaneously, which pose great challenges to the MOS-based gas sensors. Recently, in order to improve the sensing performances of MOS-based gas sensors, more and more researchers have carried out extensive research from theory to practice. For a similar purpose, on the basis of the whole fabrication process of gas sensors, this review gives a presentation of the important role of screening and the recent developments in high throughput screening. Subsequently, together with the sensing mechanism, the factors influencing the sensing properties of MOSs involved in material preparation processes were also discussed in detail. It was concluded that the sensing properties of MOSs not only depend on the morphological structure (particle size, morphology, pore size, etc.), but also rely on the defect structure and heterointerface structure (grain boundaries, heterointerfaces, defect concentrations, etc.). Therefore, the material-sensor integration was also introduced to maintain the structural stability in the sensor fabrication process, ensuring the sensing stability of MOS-based gas sensors. Finally, the perspectives of the MOS-based gas sensors in the aspects of fundamental research and the improvements in the sensing properties are pointed out.

Novel zinc oxide quantum dots (ZnO QDs) decorated graphene nanocomposites were fabricated by a facile solution-processed method. ZnO QDs with a size ca. 5 nm are nucleated and grown on the surface of the graphene template, and its distribution density can be easily controlled by the reaction time and precursor concentration. The ZnO QDs/graphene nanocomposite materials enhance formaldehyde sensing properties by 4 times compared to pure graphene at room temperature. Moreover, the sensors based on the nanocomposites have fast response (ca. 30 seconds) and recovery (ca. 40 seconds) behavior, excellent room temperature selectivity and stability. The gas sensing enhancement is attributed to the synergistic effect of graphene and ZnO QDs. The electron transfer between the ZnO QDs and the graphene is due to oxidation process of the analyzed gas on the ZnO QDs' surface. This proposed gas sensing mechanism is experimentally proved by DRIFT spectra results. The ZnO QDs/graphene nanocomposites sensors have potential applications for monitoring air pollution, especially for harmful and toxic VOCs (volatile organic compounds).

The recent development of 2D material-based chemiresistive- and FET-type gas sensors as well as their future directions are comprehensively presented.