Method of achieving desired potentiometric responses of polyacrylate-based ion-selective membranes

We introduce a simple procedure allowing preparation of cation-selective electrodes with poly( n-butyl acrylate)-based membranes containing different proportions of primary and interfering ions introduced already at the membrane preparation step, by using two different liphophilic salts of the same anion. With this approach the time required to achieve saturation of polyacrylate membranes with primary ions can be significantly shortened. Moreover, depending on the ratio of the primary and interfering ions introduced to the membrane cocktail, different potentiometric responses are obtained ranging from typical (with micromolar detection limit), through lower detection limits to super-Nernstian ones.