Ion selective electrodes Flashcards
Define electrolyte
Ionisable constituent of a living cell, blood or other organic matter. Play a crucial role in normal metabolism
- K: muscle contraction and acid-base
- Na: water balance
- Ca: bone metabolism
- H+ in acid-base balance
Also have direct signalling roles or act as cofactors
Methods to measure electrolytes
- ICP- Mass spec
- Ion chromatography
- Atomic absorption spectrometry
- Flame photometry
- Ion-selective electrodes
Principle of ISE (ion selective electrodes)
ISE part of a group of relatively simple and inexpensive analytical tools commonly used.
- ISE exploits the electrochemical potential (ECP). Sometimes called Galvanic potential
- ISE device use at least two half-cell eletrodes with metals of dissimilar ECP in order to function
- Magnitude of electrochemical siganl generated by an ISE device is proportional to analyte concentration in aqueous solution
- ISE is all about flow of electrons and other charged particles, as well as oxidation and reduction
What is the galvanic series and what are some properties?
Standard electrode potential of metals are arranged in the electrochemical series. The more negative the standard electrode potential the greater the tendency of the elements to oxidise.
- More negative=more reactive
What happens to substances at anode and cathode?
Anode - oxidised
Cathode - reduced
How is the result of the ISE presented?
Electrochemical signal vs conc of analyte
- Produces sigmoidal curve
Describe the ISE set up and briefly what happens
Two half cells with a positively charged ion in the solution (breaker).
- Positively charged ions move into the membrane creating an unbalanced electrical potential.
- This is then balanced by drawing electrons from one cell into the other until charge is balanced.
- Flow of electrons is measured as a current and voltage meter
How can ISE selectively modified?
By use of a carefully chosen selective membrane a simple pH-type electrode can be modified to become specific for certain ionic species.
- Glass membranes originally used for H+ conc, but at low levels they become more sensitive to Na+ conc
- Modification of glass composition enhances this property e.g. corning produces a gas electrode with composition: SiO2 72.2%, Na2O 21.4%, CaO 6.4%
- > to impart Na+ selectivity it was changed to: SiO2 71%, Na2O 11%, Al2O3 18%
To what composition was the glass membrane modified to impart Na+ selectivity?
SiO2=x, Na2O=y, Al2O3=z
A. x=72.2, y=21.4 ,z=6.4
B. x=67 , y= 25, z=8
C. x= 80, y= 15, z=10
D. x= 71, y= 11, z=18
D
What are some ISE available?
pH electrode, Ca2+ -, K+-, Na+-, and F-electrodes
Describe the pH probe.
It was composed into one singular entity.
- Glas membrane only permitted H+ ions through
- When electrode was immersed in test solution the containing H+ the external ions diffuse into the membrane until equilibrium is reached between the external and internal conc
- Thus build up of charge on the inside of the membrane is proportional to numbe of H+ in external solution
Describe the nernst equation
The voltage response over their activity range is described by the nernst equation i.e. it is proportional to the log of the conc of the ion being measured
Assumptions of nernst equation.
Assumes that the liquid junction potential is constant and that the ISE responds to only one species of ions
Standard voltage given by a reference electrode is only correct if there is no additional voltage from a liquid junction potential
Problems of ISE: Liquid Junction potential.
Appear when dissimilar electrolytes come into contact. At this junction, a potential difference will develop as a result of the tendency of the smaller faster ions to move across the boundary more quickly than those of lower mobility. - This means that an electochemical gradient will be set up because one constituent moves faster than the other, e.g. Na and Cl: Cl moves faster than Na into water resulting in build up of negative charge causing seperation of charge between membrane. Charge is junction potential
Why must LJP be minimised?
LJPs are difficult to reproduce, unstable, and seldom known with accuracy; so steps must be taken to minimise them.