Electrochemical methods for the determination of the diffusion coefficient of ionophores and ionophore–ion complexes in plasticized PVC membranes

The diffusion coefficients of active components in ion-selective membranes have a decisive influence on the life-time and detection limit of the respective ion-selective electrodes, as well as influencing the rate of polarization and relaxation processes of electrically perturbed ion sensors. Therefore, the rational design of mass transport controlled ion-selective electrodes with sub-nanomolar detection limits requires reliable data on the diffusion coefficients. We have implemented electrochemical methods for the quantitative assessment of both the diffusion coefficients of free ionophores and ion–ionophore complexes. The diffusion coefficients of the pH-sensitive chromoionophore ETH 5294 and the calcium-selective ionophore ETH 5234 were determined in plasticized PVC membranes with different PVC to plasticizer ratios. The diffusion coefficient of the free chromoionophore determined by a chronoamperometric method was validated with optical methods for a variety of membrane compositions. The calcium-selective ionophore ETH 5234 was used as a model compound to assess the diffusion coefficient of the ion–ionophore complex calculated from the time required for the complexes to cross a freshly prepared membrane during potentiometric ion-breakthrough experiments. The difference between the diffusion coefficients of the free ionophore ETH 5234 and the ion–ionophore complex was found to be significant and correlated well with the geometry of the respective species.