State Key Laboratory of Nonlinear Mechanics (LNM), Institute of Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100080, China 英文参考文献.docVIP

Sensors 2007, 7, 3027-3042 sensors ISSN 1424-8220 ? 2007 by MDPI /sensors Review Review on State-of-the-art in Polymer Based pH Sensors Olga Korostynska 1, Khalil Arshak 1,*, Edric Gill 2 and Arousian Arshak 2 1 Electronic Computer Engineering Department, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland E-mail: khalil.arshak@ul.ie 2 Physics Department, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed: Electronic Computer Engineering Department, University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland, Tel: +353 61 20 22 67; Fax: +353 61 33 81 76 Received: 20 August 2007 / Accepted: 26 November 2007 / Published: 30 November 2007 Abstract: This paper reviews current state-of-the-art methods of measuring pH levels that are based on polymer materials. These include polymer-coated fibre optic sensors, devices with electrodes modified with pH-sensitive polymers, fluorescent pH indicators, potentiometric pH sensors as well as sensors that use combinatory approach for ion concentration monitoring. Keywords: conductive polymer, pH measurement, response mechanism, sensor application. 1. Introduction Hydrogen ion is ubiquitous species encountered in most chemical reactions [1]. It quantified in terms of pH –the negative logarithm of its activity: pH = - log aH+ (1) The pH sensors are widely used in chemical and biological applications such as environmental monitoring (water quality), blood pH measurements and laboratory pH measurements amongst others. The earliest method of pH measurement was by means of chemical indicators, e.g. litmus paper that changes its colour in accordance to a solution’s pH. For example, when litmus is added to a basic  Sensors 2007, 7 3028 solution it turns blue, while when added to an acidic solution the resultant colour is red. Since many chemical processes are based on pH, almost all aqua samples have their p