A Patient-Ready Wearable Transcutaneous CO2 Sensor

Continuously monitoring transcutaneous CO2 partial pressure is of crucial importance in the diagnosis and treatment of respiratory and cardiac diseases. Despite significant progress in the development of CO2 sensors, their implementation as portable or wearable devices for real-time monitoring remains under-explored. Here, we report on the creation of a wearable prototype device for transcutaneous CO2 monitoring based on quantifying the fluorescence of a highly breathable CO2-sensing film. The developed materials are based on a fluorescent pH indicator (8-hydroxy-1,3,6-pyrenetrisulfonic acid trisodium salt or HPTS) embedded into hydrophobic polymer matrices. The film’s fluorescence is highly sensitive to changes in CO2 partial pressure in the physiological range, as well as photostable and insensitive to humidity. The device and medical-grade films are based on our prior work on transcutaneous oxygen-sensing technology, which has been extensively validated clinically.