Development of the Potentiometric Titration Method

No effort will be made to provide a chronological history of the development of potentiometric titration equipment, and only representative highlights will be given. Not long after the appearance of pH/potentiometric equipment in the period around 1910, the use of the instrument as a means of carrying out potentiometric titrations was reahsed. 

Potentiographic titrators and their requirements were outhned by Robinson [37] in 1947 and Lingane [38] in 1953, both authors specifying that they must satisfy two fundamental conditions. These were that the recorder chart length must be proportional to the volume of titrant dehvered, and that the rate of titrant addition must be controlled in accordance with the changes in AE/AV or ApH/AV), and in particular those associated with the area within the onset and offset of the equivalence point. 

Miyake [42] in 1966 wrote about the use of a potentiographic titrator hnked mechanically to a syringe burette, an improvement, but one which still did not solve the problem of time-lag resulting from mixing and reaction time. This was one of the problems eventually solved by improvements in electronics which permitted the titrant additions to be made either on a set time or a set drift basis. Modern titrators and their versatility, sensitivity and adaptabihty to advanced automation are largely the result of improvements in electronics and timing devices occurring over the last 30 years. 

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