Development of an Integrated Miniaturized Multi-Ion Flow Cell System for Water Quality Measurement

An integrated miniaturized multi-ion flow cell system suitable for portable chemical analysis equipment and made using thick-film manufacturing technology have been developed. The system was to be applied initially to the determination of conductivity, temperature and pH concentrations in aqueous solutions, but is expected to have application to a much larger number of species. It is shown that these sensors can be used for the development of a low-cost system for the determination of the ion activity in a simple way by flow injection analysis measurement. The system is compact and consists of an integrated thick-film multi-ion flow cell having heaters, sensors, miniaturised pumps, hydrodynamic injector and an electronic controller.