Screening the polymeric membrane toxic metals ion‐selective electrodes with multiple high‐response performances using electrode quality index

Abstract

Toxic metal ion‐selective electrodes (TM‐ISEs) with simultaneously multiple high‐response properties (MHRPs) are urgently needed for continuous monitoring of contaminated water environment. Still, scarce reports exist from research in which electrodes developed possess those properties. To overcome this challenge, we previously proposed an IECQ index method for obtaining a few of Pb2+‐ISEs with MHRPs and a universal approach for selecting referable values of response characteristic ([RC]refer) for normalization. This research aims to select electrodes with MHRPs from 391 collected electrodes for five kinds of TM (Cd, Cu, Hg, Ag or Zn)‐ISEs (TM‐ISEs) reported in the literature, through the IECQ,i indices and the study of the IECQ screening capacity, that is, the magnitude of IECQ coverage. The higher coverages, from 63.60% to 100%, of four categories IECQ,i (IECQ,2B, IECQ,3C, etc.) to electrodes with high performance are observed, indicating their good screening abilities. For eight diverse needs, the 21 screened electrodes have MHRPs, and their excellent performances are comparable with those used in real‐time monitoring. The reliability of the monitored results would be improved if they were applied to the actual detection of TM ions.