Photonic Crystals: A Review as Promising Tool for the Selective Detection of Toxic Gases

Abstract

Photonic crystals (PhCs) based sensing nanotechnology has gained a lot of attention because of its unique structural and morphological characteristics. With the potential utility, these PhC materials are promising as sensitive, selective, economical, portable, and visually detectable gas/vapor sensors for environment quality monitoring. This review focuses on current progress in the natural and artificial PhCs for gas sensing. We will discuss different PhCs including morpho butterfly wings and their nanostructure mimics, porous silicon, Bragg stacks, and colloidal crystals. Moreover, their fabrication techniques for PhCs sensing materials, structural modifications, and sensing mechanisms will be analyzed. In this review article, we highlighted the problem and solution as emerging trends for recent advances in PhCs-based sensors and their applications in environmental monitoring and pollution control. Furthermore, this study envisions new methodologies for PhCs-based sensors that will be highly advanced and effective.