All-solid-state carbonate-selective electrode based on screen-printed carbon paste electrode

Abstract

A novel disposable all-solid-state carbonate-selective electrode based on a screen-printed carbon paste electrode using poly(3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl) (POT) as an ion-to-electron transducer has been developed. The POT was dropped onto the reaction area of the carbon paste electrode covered by the poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC) membrane, which contains N,N-Dioctyl-3α,12α-bis(4-trifluoroacetylbenzoyloxy)-5β-cholan-24-amide as a carbonate ionophore. The electrode showed a near-Nernstian slope of −27.5 mV/decade with a detection limit of 3.6 * 10−5 mol l−1. Generally, the detection time was 30 s. Because these electrodes are fast, convenient and low in cost, they have the potential to be mass produced and used in on-site testing as disposable sensors. Furthermore, the repeatability, reproducibility and stability have been studied to evaluate the properties of the electrodes. Measurement of the carbonate was also conducted in a human blood solution and achieved good performance.