Developing potentiometric sensors for scandium

Scandium is a rare earth element that is not very abundant on Earth, however in recent years due to the employment of scandium in various high-tech fields the interest in the analytical chemistry of this metal is growing. Currently, the methods for scandium quantification are mainly based on inductively coupled plasma atomic emission and mass-spectrometry and to the best of our knowledge no potentiometric sensors for scandium detection were reported so far. This study is devoted to the development of simple and cost-effective ion-selective sensors for quantification of Sc3+ in aqueous media. Employing the variety of lipophilic ligands suggested in liquid extraction for separation of lanthanides and actinides we synthesized a series of plasticized polymeric sensor membranes that have shown pronounced sensitivity to Sc3+ in acidic aqueous solutions, reaching in some cases super-Nernstian values around 30 mV/dec. The selectivity of the sensors was studied with respect to transition metals, lanthanides and yttrium and it was found that most of the developed sensors are selective towards scandium. The real-life applicability of the sensors was demonstrated in quantification of scandium in industrial solutions - hydrolytic sulfuric acid obtained from pigment titanium dioxide production. We believe these sensors can be considered as a promising alternative to conventional analytical methods in technological process monitoring task.

Automated summary

The study aims to develop simple and cost-effective ion-selective sensors for quantification of Sc3+ in aqueous media. By utilizing various lipophilic ligands suggested in liquid extraction, a series of plasticized polymeric sensor membranes were synthesized showing pronounced sensitivity to Sc3+ in acidic aqueous solutions. The sensors demonstrated real-life applicability in quantification of scandium in industrial solutions and are considered a promising alternative to conventional analytical methods in technological process monitoring task.