Fiber optic volatile organic compound gas sensors: A review.

• This review shows the advanced and relevant technical specifications of fiber optic detection technology for VOC gas. • This review summarizes the gas-responsive materials and some advanced film deposition techniques of fiber optic VOCs sensors. • This review presents the sensing principles, performance, and applications of fiber optic VOC gas sensors. • This review discusses the existing challenges and potential applications of fiber optic VOCs sensors. • This review can help to keep the reader informed of the latest advances in the field. Most volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are toxic, carcinogenic, and mutagenic, and can have serious effects on human health and the ecological environment. Therefore, the detection and identification of VOCs have an urgent need in both indoor and outdoor environments. Fiber optic sensors, as intrinsically safe, miniature, portable, immune to electromagnetic interference, and easy to remote sensing and multiplexing sensing technology, are utilized in VOC gas sensing promising to provide new approaches to overcome the limitations of conventional gas sensing systems. This review assesses recent research advances in fiber optic VOC gas sensors, including various sensing principles, gas-responsive materials, new techniques for sensing material deposition, structures, and applications. Fiber optic VOC gas sensors are classified and discussed based on different principles. In addition, this paper extensively reviews the recent advances in fiber optic VOC gas sensors and discusses the strategies and approaches to further their development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]