A digital colorimetric analyzer for chemical measurements on the basis of polymeric optodes

Abstract

A digital colorimetric analytical instrument is described that allows one to determine the concentrations of substances in solutions using transparent polymeric optodes, which are able to change their color depending on a reagent and the determined-substance content. The structural and functional diagrams of the instrument that operates under the control of a LabVIEW-based program are presented. The instrumental error of the analyzer is within 1%. The instrument operation was demonstrated by the example of determining the cobalt content in drinking water, which was taken from an outdoor water pump. The metrological characteristics of the instrument are not worse than those implemented with the standard solid-phase spectrophotometry method. The instrument can be used in the industrial, environmental, clinical, and other kinds of monitoring, where the rapid determination of the concentrations of various substances is required.