A Plastic Optical Fiber Sensor for the Dual Sensing of Temperature and Oxygen

This study presents a low-cost plastic optical fiber sensor for the dual sensing of temperature and oxygen. The sensor features commercially available epoxy glue coated on the side-polished fiber surface for temperature sensing and a fluorinated xerogel doped with platinum tetrakis pentrafluoropheny porphine coated on the fiber end for oxygen sensing. The temperature and oxygen indicators are both excited using an ultraviolet light-emitting diode light source with a wavelength of 380 nm. The luminescence emission spectra of the two indicators are well resolved and exhibit no crosstalk effects. Our studies show that the temperature response of the sensor is independent of the oxygen concentration. Overall, the results indicate that the dual sensor presented in this study provides an ideal solution for the noncontact, simultaneous sensing of temperature and oxygen in general biological and medical applications.