Comparison of different approaches to the description of the detection limit of ion-selective electrodes

Electrodiffusion Phenomena in Neuroscience and the Nernst–Planck–Poisson Equations

This work is aimed to give an electrochemical insight into the ionic transport phenomena in the cellular environment of organized brain tissue. The Nernst–Planck–Poisson (NPP) model is presented, and its applications in the description of electrodiffusion phenomena relevant in nanoscale neurophysiology are reviewed. These phenomena include: the signal propagation in neurons, the liquid junction potential in extracellular space, electrochemical transport in ion channels, the electrical potential distortions invisible to patch-clamp technique, and calcium transport through mitochondrial membrane. The limitations, as well as the extensions of the NPP model that allow us to overcome these limitations, are also discussed.

Application of the interface equilibria-triggered dynamic diffusion model of the boundary potential for the numerical simulation of neutral carrier-based ion-selective electrodes response

It is shown that a simple dynamic diffusion model of the boundary potential based on a separate, step-by-step, account of ion transfer across the membrane/aqueous solution interface and the diffusion processes within both phases which was proposed earlier for describing the response of ionophore-free membranes, can be successfully used for ionophore-based membranes as well. The model makes it possible to carry out both separate and joint account of the effects of co-extraction, transmembrane transport and ion exchange on the boundary potential and retains robustness in all the variants studied. The model adequately describes the ionophore-based electrode response over the entire range of concentrations and allows one to clearly demonstrate the dependence of lower detection limit on such parameters as the diffusion coefficients and the concentration of electroactive substances in the membrane phase, the thickness of the diffusion layer in the sample solution, the duration of the measurement, and the composition of the internal reference solution. The results of numerical simulation are in good agreement with the experimental data presented in the literature. As all the factors of influence considered above can easily be regulated in more or less wide limits, but at the same time, an estimation of their cumulative effect is not always possible on an intuitive level, the present model can be of practical interest for justifying the ways of optimizing the design of the ISE and the algorithm for performing measurements in solving specific analytical problems.

Electrochemical Properties of Nitrate-Selective Electrodes: The Dependence of Resistance on the Solution Concentration

The electrochemical properties of ion-exchanger-based solvent polymeric ion-selective electrodes (ISEs)—bulk and interfacial resistance, capacitance, and polarization under a galvanostatic current step—are studied, with a nitrate ISE based on tetradecylammonium nitrate (TDANO₃) as a model system. The study is performed by chronopotentiometric and impedance measurements, and focuses on the dependence of the aforementioned properties on the concentration of NO₃⁻ anions in solution. The impacts from the bulk and the interfacial charge transfer to the overall membrane resistance are revealed. It is shown that the bulk resistance of the membranes decreases over an increase of NO₃⁻ concentration within the range of a Nernstian potentiometric response of the ISE. This fact, also reported earlier for K⁺- and Ca²⁺-selective ISEs, is not in line with current views of the mechanism of the ISE response, or of the role of ion exchange in particular. The origin of this effect is unclear. Estimates are made for the concentration of ionized species (NO₃⁻ and TDA⁺) and, respectively, for the TDANO₃ association constant, as well as for the species diffusion coefficients in the membrane.