Compact high-sensitivity potentiometer for detection of low ion concentrations in liquids

The compact potentiometer, based on an electronic circuit protected from electrostatic and electromagnetic interference, was developed for the measurement of low ion concentrations in liquids. The electronic circuit of the potentiometer, consisting of analogous and digital parts, enables the measurement of fA currents. This makes it possible to perform reliable measurements of ion concentrations in liquids that are as small as 10^-8-10^-7M. The instrument was tested using electrodes that were selective for tetraphenylphosphonium (TPP⁺) ions. It was demonstrated that the characteristic response time of the potentiometer electronic circuit to changes in the concentration of these ions in a liquid was in the order of 10 s. An investigation of TPP⁺ absorption by baker yeast has shown that this device can be successfully used for long term (several hours) measurements with zero signal drift, which was about 1 μV/s. Finally, due to the small dimensions of the electronic circuit (7.5 × 2 × 1.5 cm), this potentiometer can be easily installed at a large apparatus in the laboratory condition (≈25 °C), such as high pulsed electrical generators of magnetic fields that are used in electroporation studies of biological cells.