Air quality and smart buildings – IDTechEx explores environmental gas sensors
The gas sensor market is a diverse sector that incorporates a variety of core gas sensing technologies and emerging technologies for indoor and outdoor air quality monitoring. IDTechEx expects environmental applications of gas sensors to see the most growth going forward, as there is a need for measuring gases from a wider array of sources than ever before. IDTechEx’s report “Environmental Gas Sensor Market 2024-2034: Technology, Trends, Forecasts, Players” goes into detail.
Motivations for air quality monitoring
There is no one-size-fits-all gas sensor, so there is always a compromise of cost, suitability and, ability, and requirements needed for a specific application. Targets of innovation for sensor manufacturers to consider include high sensitivity, high selectivity, low power consumption, low unit cost, small size, and self-calibrating abilities, which are extremely valuable for environmental applications.
Health risks are one of the biggest motivators for air quality monitoring and gas sensor innovations. For example, particulate matter can be detected by optical particle counters that use light scattering, which filter through the air content. With the sensitivity of gas sensors increasing, sensors are able to detect lower concentrations of gas and more specific gas types.
In outdoor environments, dust, aerosols, and petrol and diesel fumes are amongst the main analytes, whereas indoors, it may be anything from smoke or allergens to CO2. While the general air quality monitoring market is broad, different sources and concentration levels require different analysis and consideration from a device and business perspective, with indoor and outdoor environments requiring different approaches.
The need for miniaturisation
Miniaturisation is a big topic for gas sensor innovations, particularly reducing the size of CO2 and particle sensors to be able to fit them inside consumer electronics and other small devices. Printed gas sensors have the potential to miniaturise gas sensors even further. In addition to offering an advantage in size and power consumption, smaller sensors can also be made into arrays and used as E-Noses to digitise smell.
Smart cities and buildings
Smart cities are known for their interconnectedness and IoT technologies, and small, miniaturised gas sensors would ideally be included. Installed at a low cost to produce large networks, gas sensors could enable continuous monitoring for closed-loop systems for outdoor pollution monitoring. While this has so far been limited due to a lack of infrastructure, it may be hoped that in the future, more investments and collaboration with AI could see gas sensors fulfilling their potential within smart cities.
Sensors have requirements to meet within smart buildings such as offices and schools to ensure the health and safety of occupants. Lighting, fire safety, heating, ventilation, room occupancy monitoring, and gas sensing are all interconnected within smart buildings. Many sensors are required, from smoke detectors and CO2 sensors to general air quality sensors, to meet safety and well-being requirements. With the segmentation of different aspects of safety, there is a motivation to have specialist services for each application to ensure the best possible quality is achieved.
The future of gas sensors
The need for sensors to keep up with mass digitalisation, achieve full connectivity, and improve battery life are all factors driving innovation for this technology. IDTechEx predicts the gas sensor market to reach US$9.5 billion in 2034 with a CAGR of 6.6%, with their report, “Environmental Gas Sensor Market 2024-2034: Technology, Trends, Forecasts, Players”, including details on healthcare and consumer electronics such as wearables. According to IDTechEx’s research, quantum sensors are expected to emerge within the next 10-15 years.
Despite gas sensors having always been predominantly for environmental purposes, there is now a need for a variety of applications from outdoor pollution, indoor air quality, automotives, and breath diagnostics, with the increased sensitivity of sensors making these applications possible. As devices get smaller, the demand for smaller sensors increases, and AI will be able to produce more sensitive gas-measuring capabilities going forward, adding value to raw data.
