A novel optical sensor for uranium determination

A metal ion indicator, Alizarin Red S, was tested for its potential use in uranium selective optode membrane. The water-soluble indicator was lipophilized in the form of an ion pair with tetraoctylammonium bromide, and subsequently immobilized on a triacetyl cellulose membrane. The membrane responds to uranium ions, giving a color change from yellow to violet in acetate buffer pH 5. This optode has a linear range of (1.70-18.7) × 10⁻⁵ M of UO₂²⁺ ions with a limit of detection of 5 × 10⁻⁶ M. The response time of optode was within 6 min depending on the concentration of UO₂²⁺ ions. The sensor can readily be regenerated with hydrochloric acid solution (0.01 M). The optode is fully reversible.