The pH is one of the most important parameters for char-acterizing the chemical properties of an aqueous solution. The glass eiectrode is by far the most commonly used pH sensor. The determination of pH in special situations, e.g., in vivo applications where the fragility of the glass electrode is a draw-back, requires pH sensors that can easily be miniaturized and built into physically rugged sleeves. Also, for other applications where the volume of solution is very restricted miniaturization of pH sensors is very important. The glass electrode does not respond properly to pH in some corrosive environments (e.g., in hydrogen fluoride [HF] solutions). At present, among alternatives to the hydrogen-selective glass electrode group of sensors, potentiometric metal-metal oxide pH sensors respond to pH, ideally due to an equilibrium involving the metal and its oxide. In the case of metal oxide electrodes, the metal is not involved in the potential-determining reaction. This distinction is of course not clear in many cases because the mechanism giving the pH response is not always unequivocal.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.