Development of miniature all-solid-state potentiometric sensing system

A procedure for the development of a pen-like, multi-electrode potentiometric sensing platform is described. The platform comprises a seven-in-one electrode incorporating all-solid-state ion-selective and reference electrodes based on the conductive polymer (poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT)) as an intermediate layer between the contacts and ion-selective membranes. The ion-selective electrodes are based on traditional, ionophore-based membranes, while the reference electrode is based on a polymer membrane doped with the lipophilic salt tetrabutyl ammonium tetrabutyl borate (TBA-TBB). The electrodes, controlled with a multichannel detector system, were used for simultaneous determination of the concentration of Pb2+ and pH in environmental water samples. The results obtained using pH-selective electrodes were compared with data obtained using a conventional pH meter and the average percent difference was 0.3%. Furthermore, the sensing system was successfully used for lead-speciation analysis in environmental water samples.