Characterization of a novel tellurite selective electrode

Tellurium was determined by introducing a solid membrane for the selective determination of tellurite ion. An electrode composed of a compressed disk containing a mixture of HgTeO3 and Hg2Cl2 was found to give a typical Nernstian response of 29 mV/concentration decade for the concentration range 10(-5) to 10(-1) M). The connection was made by Hg metal instead of aqueous inner filling. The optimum PH was 3.5-10.5. The selectivity of the electrode toward several inorganic and organic anions was estimated. The electrode was applied to the determination of tellurium in binary mixtures with a mean recovery of 98.99\% and relative standard deviation range of 0.19-0.51\%. (C) 1997 Academic Press.