Abstract
Reliable, cost-effective, and robust screen-printed sensors were constructed and presented for Ca2+ ions determination. The sensors were based on the use of bilirubin (1,3,6,7-tetramethyl-4,5- dicarboxyethy-2,8-divinyl-(b-13)-dihydrobilenone) as a recognition sensory material in plasticized poly (vinyl chloride) (PVC) membranes. Polypyrrol (PPY) and graphene oxide (GO) were used as ion-to-electron transducers, where the effects of anionic excluder, pH, and selectivity were investigated. In a 50 mM tris buffer solution of pH 5, the electrodes offered a potential response for Ca2+ ions with a near-Nernstian slopes of 38.1 +/- 0.4 (r(2) = 0.996) and 31.1 +/- 0.6 (r(2) = 0.999), detection limits 3.8 x 10(-6) (0.152 mu g/mL) and 2.3 x 10(-7) M (8.0 ng/mL), and linear concentration ranges of 7.0 x 10(-6)-1.0 x 10(-2) (400-0.28 mu g/mL) and 7.0 x 10(-7)-1.0 x 10(-2) M (400-0.028 mu g/mL) for sensors based on PPY and GO, respectively. Both sensors revealed stable potentiometric responses with excellent reproducibility and enhanced selectivity over a number of most common metal ions, such as Na+, K+, Li+, NH4+, Fe2+, Mg2+, and Ba2+. Impedance spectroscopy and chronopotentiometric techniques were used for evaluating the potential drift and the interfacial sensor capacitance. The proposed sensors offered the advantages of simple design, ability of miniaturization, good potential stability, and cost-effectiveness. The developed electrodes were applied successfully to Ca2+ ion assessment in different pharmaceutical products, baby-food formulations, and human blood samples. The results obtained were compared with data obtained by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS).