Jeonghan Ha

All-solid-state carbonate-selective electrode based on a molecular tweezer-type neutral carrier with solvent-soluble conducting polymer solid contact

Carbonate-selective membranes were prepared by incorporating a molecular tweezer-type carbonate-selective neutral carrier [N,N-dioctyl-3alpha,12alpha-bis(4-trifluoroacetylbenzyloxy)-5beta-cholan-24-amide] into a room temperature vulcanizing-type silicone rubber (3140 RTV-SR) matrix, and deposited on the planar-type electrodes (Pt containing Ag/AgCl electrodes formed on a ceramic plate) with and without an intermediary conducting polymer layer. Two types of solvent-soluble conducting polymers [poly(1-hexyl-3,4-dimethyl-2,5-pyrrolylene) or poly(3-octylthiophene-2,5-diyl)] have been examined as the solid contact material. Potentiometric properties of the resultant all-solid-state electrodes were evaluated in terms of their carbonate selectivity, response slope, potential stability and reproducibility. The sensitivity and carbonate selectivity of the SR membrane-based all-solid-state electrodes with conducting polymer solid contact were comparable to those of conventional electrodes. Experimental results also showed that the intermediary conducting polymer layer used in the all-solid-state electrodes greatly reduces the interference from dissolved oxygen.

Amperometric biosensors employing an insoluble oxidant as an interference-removing agent

Abstract A strong oxidant membrane is introduced to amperometric biosensors in order to solve the problem associated with interference from readily oxidizable species. The proposed biosensors are in planar format, and are composed of four components, i.e. a base amperometric transducer, an enzyme layer, a protecting membrane, and an oxidant membrane. In this sensor format, interfering species are removed by an oxidation reaction during their diffusion through the oxidant membrane. The oxidant membrane is introduced by dispensing a mixture of an oxidant and a polymer matrix as dissolved in an organic solvent, and thus, could be easily adapted to mass fabrication of miniature biosensors. In this work, several different reagents are examined as oxidants: BaO2, CeO2, MnO2 and PbO2. Of these, PbO2 is shown to yield biosensors with the best performance, in terms of reducing interfering signals. Two different matrix systems are devised for use in formulating oxidant membranes: hydrophilic polyurethane (HPU) and cellulose acetate incorporating poly(ethylene glycol) (CA/PEG). While the CA/PEG-type sensor displays better sensitivity and faster response behavior, the HPU-type is shown to exhibit more pronounced interference-removing ability. The analytical utility of the proposed oxidant membrane is demonstrated by fabricating amperometric glucose and creatinine sensors as the model biosensor systems, and by investigating their response characteristics.