Heterogeneous membrane electrodes
First Claim
1. A dry heterogeneous membrane cast from an oil in water emulsion for an electrochemical sensing electrode for direct exposure to a sample, the membrane comprisinga hydrophobic compartment, the hydrophobic compartment including a gas permeable polymer and having a water vapor diffusion coefficient;
- a hydrophilic compartment, the hydrophilic compartment including a hydrophilic polymer and having an aqueous electrolyte diffusion coefficient; and
a dry internal reagent reservoir, wherein the hydrophilic compartment includes the internal reagent reservoir;
wherein the hydrophobic compartment is in excess by volume over the hydrophilic compartment for the water vapor diffusion coefficient of the hydrophobic compartment to be higher than the aqueous electrolyte diffusion coefficient of the hydrophilic compartment andwherein at least one of the gas permeable polymer and the hydrophilic polymer is at least partially cross-linked, andwherein the internal reagent reservoir contains at least a bicarbonate salt and a pH sensitive redox couple.
2 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
The present invention relates to planar electrochemical sensors with membrane coatings used to perform chemical analyses. The object of this invention is to provide unit-use disposable sensors of very simple and inexpensive construction, preferably with only a single membrane coating on an electrode. The invented devices are potentiometric salt-bridge reference electrodes and dissolved gas sensors constructed with a heterogeneous membrane coating of a conductor. The heterogeneous membrane, which is an intimate admixture of a hydrophobic and a hydrophilic compartment, concurrently supports constrained transport of non-volatile species through its hydrophilic compartment and rapid gas and water vapor transport through its hydrophobic compartment.
-
Citations
21 Claims
-
1. A dry heterogeneous membrane cast from an oil in water emulsion for an electrochemical sensing electrode for direct exposure to a sample, the membrane comprising
a hydrophobic compartment, the hydrophobic compartment including a gas permeable polymer and having a water vapor diffusion coefficient; -
a hydrophilic compartment, the hydrophilic compartment including a hydrophilic polymer and having an aqueous electrolyte diffusion coefficient; and a dry internal reagent reservoir, wherein the hydrophilic compartment includes the internal reagent reservoir; wherein the hydrophobic compartment is in excess by volume over the hydrophilic compartment for the water vapor diffusion coefficient of the hydrophobic compartment to be higher than the aqueous electrolyte diffusion coefficient of the hydrophilic compartment and wherein at least one of the gas permeable polymer and the hydrophilic polymer is at least partially cross-linked, and wherein the internal reagent reservoir contains at least a bicarbonate salt and a pH sensitive redox couple. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21)
-
Specification