A US technology firm has developed a way of more accurately measuring pH and pO2 using a cuvette which employs hydrophobic sol gel to trap a ruthenium fluorescent compound.

The pHoxyvette from SpectrEcology is equipped with an embedded oxygen sensor which uses phase fluorimetry to measure the fluorescence quenchin.

The device can be used to measure respiration rates, biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, water quality and can also be employed in sealed systems such as CO2 lasers to measure gaseous environments, photonics.com reports.

As well as being available in disposable version, the smart cuvettes can be installed on any transparent container wall.

SpectrEcology has also devised a separate sensor, which can be fitted to the wall of a standard 1-cm cuvette and traps bromcresol green pH indicator ions in a hydrophilic sol-gel cage.

Florida-based SpectrEcology specialises in sensing solutions for scientists for field science or environmental applications and handles distribution of Ocean Optics miniature spectrometers, fibre optics and chemical sensors.

Source:

Smart Cuvettes, 03/10/09
http://www.photonics.com/content/products/2007/October/3/89157.aspx
http://www.spectrecology.com/

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