Carbon dioxide luminescent sensor based on a CMOS image array

In this work, we describe an optical carbon dioxide (CO2) sensor based on luminescent quenching of hydroxy-pyrenetrisulfonic acid (HPTS). A low-cost CMOS image array was used as detector, while cross-polarization was used to filter the excitation light and reduce background interference. The sensor exhibited excellent performance, with high sensitivity over a wide dynamic range of 0–100% CO2. As proof-of-concept demonstration, the sensor was field-tested with automobile exhaust and benchmarked with a commercial sensor as a reference. By using an image sensor typically found in consumer products, a compact, low-cost luminescence-based CO2 sensor was successfully demonstrated with performance comparable to that of the commercial sensors.