Development of a Patch-Type Flexible Oxygen Partial Pressure Sensor

Abstract

Oxygen concentration in living organisms is one of the important vital indicators in emergency care and bedside medical settings. However, the oximetry method has limitations: the measurement site is limited to the tissue containing blood and the absolute value of oxygen concentration cannot be measured. To overcome these limitations, in this work, we develop a new oxygen sensor that can directly measure the oxygen particle pressure (pO2) on the surface of the body and organs. A light emitting diode (LED) and a photodiode (PD) were embedded in a dimethylpolysiloxane substrate mixed with carbon nanotubes. The effectiveness of the device was evaluated using calibration, bending strain tests, time and frequency response, and finally in vivo assessments. The results reveal that the calibration experiment of the fabricated oxygen sensor device showed high sensitivity. The carbon nanotube electrode has a sufficient bending resistance and does not affect the response characteristics of the LED and PD, that is, it does not affect the oxygen measurement. In vivo assessment shows that the developed patch-type flexible oxygen sensor can accurately measure pO2 by attaching it to tissues or organs having irregularities or curved surfaces and actual measurements on rat liver surface demonstrated its feasibility.

Keywords

• Oxygen sensor
• phosphorescence
• wearable
• point-of-care testing