Solid-state ion selective electrode based on polypyrrole conducting polymer nanofilm as a new potentiometric sensor for Zn2+ ion

A pencil graphite electrode (PGE) electrodeposited by a polypyrrole conducting polymer doped with tartrazine (termed as PGE/PPy/Tar) was prepared and used as a zinc (II) solid-state ion-selective electrode. For the preparation of the zinc sensor electrode, electrodeposition of a polypyrrole nanofilm was carried out potentiostatically (Eapp = 0.75 V vs SCE) in a solution containing 0.010 M pyrrole and 0.001 M tartrazine trisodium salt. A pencil graphite and Pt wire were used as working and auxiliary electrodes, respectively. The introduced electrode in the current paper can be fabricated simply and was found to possess high selectivity, exhibited wide working concentration range, sufficiently rapid response, potential stability, and very good sensitivity to Zn (II) ion. The sensor electrode showed a linear Nernstian response over the range of 1.0 × 10−5 to 1.0 × 10−1 M with a slope of 28.23 mV per decade change in zinc ion concentration. A detection limit of 8.0 × 10−6 M was obtained. The optimum pH working of the electrode was found to be 5.0.