Solid Polymer Electrolytes for Gas Sensing Electrodes

Abstract

In 1954 Leland Clark demonstrated that a platinum cathode would measure the oxygen concentration of blood when it and a reference electrode were covered by an oxygen permeable membrane. Later in that same year Stow and Severinghaus showed that carbon dioxide could be estimated in blood with a glass electrode fitted with a gas permeable membrane. In the seventies the Huchs demonstrated that mechanical adaptations of these devices could be utilized to provide transcutaneous (non-invasive) measurement of arterial blood gas concentration if the skin area surrounding the sensor was heated to 44 – 45°C.