Advanced Solid-Contact Ion Selective Electrode Based on Electrically Conducting Polymers

Advanced solid-contact ion selective electrodes (ISEs) constructed from electrically conducting polymers are systematically summarized based on the latest literatures and our latest work. Due to the unique conjugation structure and dual functions of electronic and ionic conductivity, conjugated conductive polymers can act as ion-to-electron transducers to realize the sensitive detection of ions. The solid-contact ISEs with conducting polymers, such as polyaniline, polypyrrole and polythiophene, as intermediate layers have been successfully used to detect ions at nanomolar level concentrations. Such ISEs are expected to play an important role in various areas such as environmental monitoring, drug manufacturing, medical treatment and food safety.