Affiliation:
1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
2. Department of Chemistry, School of Engineering Science in Chemistry, Biochemistry and Health, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Teknikringen 30, SE-100 44 Stockholm, Sweden
3. UCAM-SENS, Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia, UCAM HiTech, Avda. Andres Hernandez Ros 1, 30107 Murcia, Spain
4. Department of Informatics and Systems, University of Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain
Abstract
A potentiometric electronic tongue (ET) for the analysis of well and ditch irrigation water samples is herein proposed. The sensors’ array is composed of six ion-selective electrodes based on plasticized polymeric membranes with low selectivity profiles, i.e., the membranes do not contain any selective receptor. The sensors differ between them in the type of ion-exchanger (sensors for cations or anions) and the plasticizer used in the membrane composition, while the polymeric matrix and the preparation protocol were maintained. The potentiometric response of each sensor towards the main cations (Na+, K+, Ca2+, Mg2+) and anions (HCO3−, Cl−, SO42−, NO3−) expected in irrigation water samples was characterized, revealing a fast response time (<50 s). A total of 19 samples were analyzed with the sensor array at optimized experimental conditions, but, also, a series of complementary analytical techniques were applied to obtain the exact ion composition and conductivity to develop a trustable ET. The principal component analysis of the final potential values of the dynamic response observed with each sensor in the array allows for the differentiation between most of the samples in terms of quality. Furthermore, the ET was treated with a linear multivariate regression method for the quantitative determination of the mentioned ions in the irrigation water samples, revealing rather good prediction of Mg2+, Na+, and Cl− concentrations and acceptable results for the rest of ions. Overall, the ET is a promising analytical tool for irrigation water quality, exceeding traditional characterization approaches (conductivity, salinity, pH, cations, anions, etc.) in terms of overhead costs, versatility, simplicity, and total time for data provision.
Funder
Ministry of Science and Innovation
Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities, State Research Agency, FEDER
Subject
Physical and Theoretical Chemistry,Analytical Chemistry
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