
HOW DOES A GAS SENSOR WORK?
There are several kinds of gas sensors out
there, but the technique applied the most
commonly involves using a MOS (metal
oxide semiconductor) which, when heated,
starts reacting with the gases contained in
the air, causing its resistance to change.
From there, chemistry is the least of your
concerns as a good ol’ voltage divider is all
you need to measure the resistance — hence
gas concentration — in your project. The
sensor used in this build even has its own
microcontroller that takes care of that for
you, and then exposes the readings in digital
form, over I²C.
As gas sensors involve heating the metal
oxide sensing ...