Research Area

CO2 Sensing and Capture

Carbon dioxide (CO2) has been the subject of widespread discussion and considerable political debate due to its role as a green house gas. CO2 plays a central role in human physiology, including respiratory function, and is critical to the modern agricultural, food, and chemical industries. The importance and prevalence of CO2 is providing an incentive to develop new methods that permit the rapid, quantitative and selective detection of this relatively inert gas. Currently, methods for CO2 detection include infrared spectroscopy, pH or Severinghaus electrodes, Gas chromatography, and, more recently, optical chemosensors. Within the generalized chemosensor paradigm, optical CO2 sensors based on either fluorescence or UV spectroscopies are particularly attractive. When appropriately designed such sensors have the advantage of simplicity, low-cost, high sensitivity and good selectivity; they are also amenable to automation and can permit real-time analyses.