Determination of calcium ion in sap using carbon nanotube-based ion-selective electrodes

A new reduced-size solid-state electrode using carbon nanotubes as the transducing layer has been developed for the direct determination of Ca(2+) in sap, overcoming problems encountered by commercial ISEs analysing real complex samples. We show that this solid-contact ISE, which can be easily miniaturized, can be used directly in diluted real samples without any other pretreatment. The performance parameters of the new ISE include a Nernstian slope and excellent stability, good coefficients of selectivity, range of linearity (10(-5) to 10(-2.5) M) and limit of detection (10(-6.2) M), thus making it an excellent tool for determining Ca(2+) in a wide range of plant species.