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 HgTeO₃and Hg₂Cl₂was found to give a typical Nernstian response of 29 mV/concentration decade for the concentration range 10⁻⁵to 10⁻¹M). 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%.