Machine Learning-Driven Design of Metal Oxide Gas Sensors: From Mechanisms to Intelligent Sensing: A Review

Abstract

The growing problem of air pollution and its direct impact on human health have created an urgent need for reliable, intelligent, and machine learning (ML)-enabled gas-sensing technologies. Among various sensing platforms, metal oxide gas sensors (MO-GSs) have emerged as promising candidates owing to their low cost, high sensitivity, and scalability. However, their practical application is limited by poor selectivity, cross-sensitivity, sensor drift, and high operating temperatures. Recent advances in ML have provided effective strategies to overcome these limitations through data-driven optimization of sensing performance. This review summarizes recent progress in ML-assisted MO-GSs, covering sensor array design, feature engineering, and classification algorithms, including support vector machines (SVMs), random forests (RFs), and deep neural networks (DNNs). In addition, key data-processing techniques such as preprocessing, dimensionality reduction, and hybrid learning approaches are critically discussed. The application of ML-enabled MO-GSs in medical diagnostics, environmental monitoring, industrial safety, and food quality assessment is also reviewed. Despite significant progress, challenges including limited dataset availability, sensor drift, and poor model generalization remain. Future research should focus on developing adaptive, energy-efficient, and IoT-enabled smart sensing systems. The integration of machine learning with metal oxide gas sensors represents a significant step toward intelligent, next-generation, high-performance gas-sensing technologies.