Table 2.

Advantages and disadvantages of colorimetric sensor arrays.

Advantages of colorimetric sensor arrays	Challenges
Fast	Reproducibility of printing
Inexpensive	Reproducibility of imaging
Light weight and portable	Difficult to determine individual components of a mixture
Small sample size	Stability/shelf-life
Minimal instrumentation and power needed	Large data sets of RGB values that need to be analyzed using chemometric methods
Ability to customize array for specific analytes	Sample application may vary
Respond to a wide range of analytes
Many potential sensors to choose from
Can be used for identification and quantification
Devices can fabricated with simple methods such as inkjet printing
With appropriate apps, data collection and analysis are user friendly
Potential to analyze vapor or liquid samples
Customization possible for specific analytes
Flexible array sizes
Integration with smart phone technology