Experimental implementation of a measuring electrode for determining the hydrogen index in strongly acidic environments
摘要
The paper reviews the aspects of metrological support of measuring the hydrogen ion concentration index (pH) in a highly acidic environment. In pH probes for medical devices, antimony electrodes are typically used; however, antimony is toxic, and antimony electrodes are characterized by high measurement errors in strongly acidic media. Therefore, it is important for pH metrology to create more accurate and non-toxic electrodes made from corrosion-resistant, inexpensive, and conductive materials offering fast response times and ability to achieve electrochemical equilibrium in strongly acidic environments. The possibility of manufacturing measuring electrodes from non-toxic and relatively corrosion-resistant metallic bismuth with the addition of graphite as a modifier has been investigated. The optimal ratios of the main electrode substance (bismuth) and modifying additive (graphite) have been selected, the binding solution for increasing the degree of homogeneity of the working surface of the electrode has been proposed, and the procedure for manufacturing measuring electrodes has been described. An experimental setup was developed to measure the potential of the manufactured electrodes relative to the potential of a normal hydrogen electrode. The setup consists of a combination of technical means, including a hydrogen generator, hydrogen electrode used as anode under the standard conditions, and a measuring electrode used as a cathode. Various electrodes manufactured within the framework of this study work were used as a measuring electrode. Electrode functions have been constructed for antimony and bismuth electrodes of different modifications. The results of measuring the potential of the manufactured bismuth and antimony electrodes, used as pH probes in medical equipment, have been compared. The results of analyzing the effect of the modifying additive on the electrode potential and corrosion resistance of the measuring electrodes are presented. Further directions of study are proposed aiming at optimizing the composition of the working surface of electrodes for use in a strongly acidic environment.