Air-permeable redox mediated transcutaneous CO(2) sensor

Standard clinical care of neonates and the ventilation status of human patients affected with coronavirus disease involves continuous CO(2) monitoring. However, existing noninvasive methods are inadequate owing to the rigidity of hard-wired devices, insubstantial gas permeability and high operating temperature. Here, we report a cost-effective transcutaneous CO(2) sensing device comprising elastomeric sponges impregnated with oxidized single-walled carbon nanotubes (oxSWCNTs)-based composites. The proposed device features a highly selective CO(2) sensing response (detection limit 155 ± 15 ppb), excellent permeability and reliability under a large deformation. A follow-up prospective study not only offers measurement equivalency to existing clinical standards of CO(2) monitoring but also provides important additional features. This new modality allowed for skin-to-skin care in neonates and room-temperature CO(2) monitoring as compared with clinical standard monitoring system operating at high temperature to substantially enhance the quality for futuristic applications.