Ionic Liquid Salt Bridge with Low Solubility of Water and Stable Liquid Junction Potential Based on a Mixture of a Potential-Determining Salt and a Highly Hydrophobic Ionic Liquid

Abstract

A new type of ionic liquid salt bridge (ILSB) based on a mixture of pentyltripropylammonium bis(pentafluoroethanesulfonyl)amide, [N(3335)(+)][C(2)C(2)N(-)], and heptadecafluorodecyltrioctylphosphonium tetrakis[3,5-bis(trifluoromethyl)phenyl]borate, [TOPH(+)][TFPB(-)], shows a stable phase-boundary potential (Δ(IL)(W)φ) between the ILSB and an aqueous solution of MCl (M = H(+), Li(+), Na(+), and K(+)) over the concentration range from 0.05 mM to 0.5 M with an averaged excursion in 1 h of ±0.3 mV. The reproducibility of Δ(IL)(W)φ is ±0.6 mV on average (95% confidence interval) in KCl solutions in this concentration range. The mixing of the two different types of salts not only increases the stability of the phase-boundary potential but provides us with more freedom in selecting potential-determining salts to design and customize ILSBs for different purposes.