PH ion-selective electrodes

The change in the concentration of H3O+ is monitored with a pH ion-selective electrode, for which the cell potential is given by equation 11.9. The relationship between the concentration of H3O+ and CO2 is given by rearranging the equilibrium constant expression for reaction 11.10 thus... 

Because of the complex nature of titration curves obtained using pH, ion-selective electrodes, or millivolt (Eh) measurements on whole soils, these methods, except for organic matter determination, are seldom used. 

In principle, any measurable property of a reacting system that is proportional to the extent of reaction may be used to monitor the progress of the reaction. The most common techniques are spectrophotometric (UV-visible, fluorescence, IR, polarimetry and NMR) or electrochemical (pH, ion-selective electrodes, conductivity and polarography). Either a "batch" method can be used, in which samples are withdrawn from the reaction mixture and analyzed, or the reaction may be monitored in situ. By far the most widely used technique involves UV-visible spectrophotometry. 

When first developed, potentiometry was restricted to redox equilibria at metallic electrodes, limiting its application to a few ions. In 1906, Cremer discovered that a potential difference exists between the two sides of a thin glass membrane when opposite sides of the membrane are in contact with solutions containing different concentrations of H3O+. This discovery led to the development of the glass pH electrode in 1909. Other types of membranes also yield useful potentials. Kolthoff and Sanders, for example, showed in 1937 that pellets made from AgCl could be used to determine the concentration of Ag+. Electrodes based on membrane potentials are called ion-selective electrodes, and their continued development has extended potentiometry to a diverse array of analytes. 

If metallic electrodes were the only useful class of indicator electrodes, potentiometry would be of limited applicability. The discovery, in 1906, that a thin glass membrane develops a potential, called a membrane potential, when opposite sides of the membrane are in contact with solutions of different pH led to the eventual development of a whole new class of indicator electrodes called ion-selective electrodes (ISEs). following the discovery of the glass pH electrode, ion-selective electrodes have been developed for a wide range of ions. Membrane electrodes also have been developed that respond to the concentration of molecular analytes by using a chemical reaction to generate an ion that can be monitored with an ion-selective electrode. The development of new membrane electrodes continues to be an active area of research. 

Membrane Potentials Ion-selective electrodes, such as the glass pH electrode, function by using a membrane that reacts selectively with a single ion. figure 11.10 shows a generic diagram for a potentiometric electrochemical cell equipped with an ion-selective electrode. The shorthand notation for this cell is... 

One advantage of the E ion-selective electrode is its freedom from interference. The only significant exception is OH (kip-zon- = 0-1), which imposes a maximum pH limit for a successful analysis. 

Free Ions Versus Complexed Ions In discussing the ion-selective electrode, we noted that the membrane potential is influenced by the concentration of F , but not the concentration of HF. An analysis for fluoride, therefore, is pH-dependent. Below a pH of approximately 4, fluoride is present predominantly as HF, and a quantitative analysis for total fluoride is impossible. If the pH is increased to greater than 4, however, the equilibrium... 

Potcntiomctric Titrations In Chapter 9 we noted that one method for determining the equivalence point of an acid-base titration is to follow the change in pH with a pH electrode. The potentiometric determination of equivalence points is feasible for acid-base, complexation, redox, and precipitation titrations, as well as for titrations in aqueous and nonaqueous solvents. Acid-base, complexation, and precipitation potentiometric titrations are usually monitored with an ion-selective electrode that is selective for the analyte, although an electrode that is selective for the titrant or a reaction product also can be used. A redox electrode, such as a Pt wire, and a reference electrode are used for potentiometric redox titrations. More details about potentiometric titrations are found in Chapter 9. 

Buck, R. P. Potentiometry pH Measurements and Ion Selective Electrodes. In Weissberger, A., ed.. Physical Methods of Organic Chemistry, Vol. 1, Part IIA. Wiley New York, 1971, pp. 61-162. Cammann, K. Working with Ion-Selective Electrodes. Springer-Verlag Berlin, 1977. 

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The NIST is the source of many of the standards used in chemical and physical analyses in the United States and throughout the world. The standards prepared and distributed by the NIST are used to caUbrate measurement systems and to provide a central basis for uniformity and accuracy of measurement. At present, over 1200 Standard Reference Materials (SRMs) are available and are described by the NIST (15). Included are many steels, nonferrous alloys, high purity metals, primary standards for use in volumetric analysis, microchemical standards, clinical laboratory standards, biological material certified for trace elements, environmental standards, trace element standards, ion-activity standards (for pH and ion-selective electrodes), freezing and melting point standards, colorimetry standards, optical standards, radioactivity standards, particle-size standards, and density standards. Certificates are issued with the standard reference materials showing values for the parameters that have been determined. 

More recendy, two different types of nonglass pH electrodes have been described which have shown excellent pH-response behavior. In the neutral-carrier, ion-selective electrode type of potentiometric sensor, synthetic organic ionophores, selective for hydrogen ions, are immobilized in polymeric membranes (see Membrane technology) (9). These membranes are then used in more-or-less classical glass pH electrode configurations. 

Sources of Error. pH electrodes are subject to fewer iaterfereaces and other types of error than most potentiometric ionic-activity sensors, ie, ion-selective electrodes (see Electro analytical techniques). However, pH electrodes must be used with an awareness of their particular response characteristics, as weU as the potential sources of error that may affect other components of the measurement system, especially the reference electrode. Several common causes of measurement problems are electrode iaterferences and/or fouling of the pH sensor, sample matrix effects, reference electrode iastabiHty, and improper caHbration of the measurement system (12). 

Fluoride. A fluoride concentration of ca 1 mg/L is helpful in preventing dental caries. Eluoride is deterrnined potentiometrically with an ion-selective electrode. A buffer solution of high total ionic strength is added to the solution to eliminate variations in sample ionic strength and to maintain the sample at pH 5—8, the optimum range for measurement. (Cyclohexylenedinitrilo)tetraacetic acid (CDTA) is usually added to the buffer solution to complex aluminum and thereby prevent its interference. If fluoroborate ion is present, the sample should be distilled from a concentrated sulfuric acid solution to hydrolyze the fluoroborate to free fluoride prior to the electrode measurement (26,27). 

Cyanide compounds are classified as either simple or complex. It is usually necessary to decompose complex cyanides by an acid reflux. The cyanide is then distilled into sodium hydroxide to remove compounds that would interfere in analysis. Extreme care should be taken during the distillation as toxic hydrogen cyanide is generated. The cyanide in the alkaline distillate can then be measured potentiometricaHy with an ion-selective electrode. Alternatively, the cyanide can be determined colorimetricaHy. It is converted to cyanogen chloride by reaction with chloramine-T at pH <8. The CNCl then reacts with a pyridine barbituric acid reagent to form a red-blue dye. 

Hydrogen SulBde. Sulfide ion from 10 to 1 Af can be measured potentiometricaHy with an ion-selective electrode. Mercuric ion interferes at concentrations >10 M. The concentration of hydrogen sulfide can be calculated knowing the sample pH and the piC for H2S. 

Ion Selective Electrodes Technique. Ion selective (ISE) methods, based on a direct potentiometric technique (7) (see Electroanalytical techniques), are routinely used in clinical chemistry to measure pH, sodium, potassium, carbon dioxide, calcium, lithium, and chloride levels in biological fluids. 

Ion-selective electrodes are available for the electro analysis of most small anions, eg, haUdes, sulfide, carbonate, nitrate, etc, and cations, eg, lithium, sodium, potassium, hydrogen, magnesium, calcium, etc, but having varying degrees of selectivity. The most successful uses of these electrodes involve process monitoring, eg, for pH, where precision beyond the unstable reference electrode s abiUty to deUver is not generally required, and for clinical apphcations, eg, sodium, potassium, chloride, and carbonate in blood, urine, and semm. 

Ion-selective electrodes can also become sensors (qv) for gases such as carbon dioxide (qv), ammonia (qv), and hydrogen sulfide by isolating the gas in buffered solutions protected from the sample atmosphere by gas-permeable membranes. Typically, pH glass electrodes are used, but electrodes selective to carbonate or sulfide may be more selective. 

Potentiometric Titrations. If one wishes to analyze electroactive analytes that are not ions or for which ion-selective electrodes are not available, two problems arise. First, the working electrodes, such as silver, platinum, mercury, etc, are not selective. Second, metallic electrodes may exhibit mixed potentials, which may arise from a variety of causes. For example, silver may exchange electrons with redox couples in solution, sense Ag" via electron exchange with the external circuit, or tarnish to produce pH-sensitive oxide sites or Ag2S sites that are sensitive to sulfide and haUde. On the other... 

Kimura and coworkers [17], Diamond [18], and Damien et al. [19] have described that the polymeric calix-[4]arenes have been used as ionophores in ion selective electrodes for Na (based on calixarene esters and amides) and for Na and Cs (based on p-alkylcalixarene acetates). The electrodes are stated to function as poten-tiometric sensors as well, having good selectivity for primary ion, virtually no response to divalent cations, and being stable over a wide pH range. 

Fields of Application for ion-selective electrodes o Routine-analytical work in the laboratory (direct or as end-point indicators application frequency in industry 30%) o Clinical analyzers for Na+, K.+, Ca2+, pH, pC02, etc. o Process analyzers... 

Buck, R. P. Potentiometry, pH measurements and ion-selective electrodes, in Physical Methods of Chemistry, part Ha (eds.) Weissberger, A., Rossiter, B. W., New York, Interscience 1971... 

Direct-reading meters suitable for use with ion-selective electrodes are available from a number of manufacturers they are sometimes referred to as ion activity meters. They are very similar in construction to pH meters, and most can in fact be used as a pH meter, but by virtue of the extended range of measurements for which they must be used (anions as well as cations, and doubly charged as well as singly charged ions), the circuitry is necessarily more complex and scale expansion facilities are included. They are commonly used in the millivolt mode. 

The electrodes required are a fluoride ion selective electrode and a calomel reference electrode of the type supplied for use with pH meters. 

Where-high purity MU is provided for higher pressure WT boiler plant FW, some form of continuous analyzers for measuring treated water pH and conductivity are almost always installed, as are sodium (Na) ion-selective electrodes for detection of sodium leakage. Automatic online silica analyzers also may be installed, but they measure only reactive (ionizable) silica (Si02), not colloidal or total silica, so caution is required where unforeseen silica leakage may present a problem. 

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