title: Fabrication of a planar-form screen-printed solid electrolyte modified Ag/AgCl reference electrode for application in a potentiometric biosensor.
abstract: This study features the fabrication of a planar-form, solid electrolyte modified, (PSEM) Ag/AgCl reference electrode using a screen-printing method. The PSEM Ag/AgCl reference electrode uses agar gel as the inner electrolyte and chloroprene rubber for the liquid junction and insulator. These common low-cost materials and the simple fabrication processes involved render the proposed reference electrode an ideal candidate for cost-efficient mass production. It is shown that the developed reference electrode is insensitive to most of the physiologically important ionic species, including Na+, K+, Li+, Ca2+, NH4+, and Cl-, under continuous measurement conditions. Moreover, as with conventional commercial reference electrodes, the proposed reference electrode exhibits a reversible response, which is maintained until the agar gel dries out. The PSEM Ag/AgCl reference electrode is integrated with an iridium oxide modified Pt-based pH indicator electrode to form a chip-type pH biosensor. The performance of this biosensor is consistent with that obtained from a pH meter based on a macroscopic commercial Ag/AgCl reference electrode. The experimental results confirm that the proposed biosensor is capable of providing precise pH measurements of various real samples. Accordingly, the PSEM Ag/AgCl reference electrode presented in this study provides a viable alternative to the macroscopic Ag/AgCl reference electrode used in many conventional chip-based pH sensors.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Cheng Kung University, Tainan 70101, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Wei-Yin
authors.initials: WY
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.forename: Tse-Chuan
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Chou
mesh_terms: D015374:Biosensing Techniques / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D001774:Blood Chemical Analysis / Q000379:methods; D004566:Electrodes; D004573:Electrolytes; D004867:Equipment Design; D005504:Food Analysis / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D006863:Hydrogen-Ion Concentration; D011199:Potentiometry / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D012834:Silver / Q000737:chemistry; D018030:Silver Compounds / Q000737:chemistry
chemical_list: D004573:Electrolytes; D018030:Silver Compounds; D012834:Silver; C037548:silver chloride