pH Colorimetric Sensor Arrays: Role of the Color Space Adopted for the Calculation of the Prediction Error

Abstract

A pH colorimetric sensor array was prepared and characterized by combining tetrabromophenol blue (TBB) and bromothymol blue (BB) embedded in organically modified silicate (OrMoSil) spots polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF)-supported. The signal was based on the Hue profile (H). The individual calibrations of TBB and BB showed precisions with minimum values of 0.012 pH units at pH = 2.196 for TBB and 0.018 at pH = 6.692 for BB. The overall precision of 10 spots of the mixture TBB/BB increased in the pH range of 1.000–8.000 from a minimum value of pH precision of 0.009 at pH = 2.196 to 0.012 at pH = 6.692, with the worst value of 0.279 pH units at pH = 4.101. The possibility to produce an array with much more than 10 spots allows for improving precision. The H analytical performance was compared to those of other color spaces such as RGB, Lab, and XYZ. H was the best one, with prediction error in the range of 0.016 to 0.021 pH units, at least three times lower than the second-best (x coordinate), with 0.064 pH units. These results were also confirmed by the calculation of the main experimental contributions to the pH prediction error, demonstrating the consistency of the proposed calculation approach.