The use of colorimetric reactions as a sensitive, selective and low-cost method for the detection of fire related gases is evaluated in this work. As the most relevant fire gas carbon monoxide CO is addressed in the first place. A rhodium-based metal-organic complex has been selected, which a colorimetric material sensitive for CO. For the optical readout a compact setup has been developed which provides the option for spectroscopy in transmission and attenuated total reflection in parallel. The detection of CO in concentrations relevant for fire detection has been demonstrated in synthetic gas mixtures as well as in real fire gas.
