Russian Scientists Develop Device to Measure Oxygen Concentration in Blood

Scientists at Samara National Research University, Russia, have developed an infrared photodetector to measure the concentration of oxygen in the blood. It will be used in both medical and scientific equipment, and even on spacecraft. According to the new study, conducted by these scientists and published in the scientific journal Computer Optics, a flexible and highly sensitive optical detector based on titanium disulfide with silver nitrate has been developed to measure the concentration of oxygen in the blood. The developed detector will be useful in medical diagnostics, both in the prevention and treatment of respiratory diseases, as it will be possible to measure the concentration of dissolved oxygen in the blood, and as a result, it will be possible to evaluate the efficiency of the respiratory system, cardiovascular system, and blood components. One of the authors of the study and a graduate student at Samara University, Anastasia Remzina said that equipment with infrared detectors can measure the c omposition of a gas by monitoring the gass ability to reduce the intensity of that radiation. Infrared photo detectors are typically designed to convert light signals into electrical signals. The conversion of light into current occurs due to the internal photoelectric effect, where the concentration of electrons increases when light hits so-called sensitive elements. Commercially available photo detectors typically rely on rigid, brittle substrates that cannot be bent or compressed, making them difficult to shape. Flexible photo detectors however are also known to only detect a limited range of wavelengths. Source: Qatar News Agency