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Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
Polytechnic University of Bucharest
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Ioana-Alina CIOBOTARU Florin Mihai BENGA, Oana Claudia
BARBU, George Costin LAZAR, Claudiu CAMPUREANU, Traian RUS
and Danut-Ionel VAIREANU
34
Ioana-Alina Ciobotaru, Florin Mihai Benga, Oana Claudia Barbu, George Costin Lazar, Claudiu
Campureanu, Traian Rus and Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
conductivity and the cell constant, Kcell, for the purpose of this paper, the notation
shall be used for the specific conductivity, sometimes shortened as conductivity.
Although these terms are also present in electronic conductors such as metals,
alloys, graphite, semiconductors, the subject of this paper shall be restricted to the
electrolytic conductivity (ionic conduction mechanisms).
The determination of specific conductivity is particularly important when
one evaluates not only the conduction of liquids, but also the ionic conduction of
conductive polymers or ion exchange membranes [11-17].
Conductivity units
There is still some ambiguity when one attaches the units for the
conductivity. Specific conductivity, by definition, is the conduction capacity of a
3
volume of 1 m of an electrolyte solution when subjected to a potential gradient
. -1 -1. -1
equal to 1 volt/m and is measured S m or m
1
(2)
. -1 -1. -1
where is the resistivity. Accepted units are also S cm or cm . This duality
comes from the fact that in 1971 the unit S, siemens, named after Werner von
Siemens, was adopted by the General Conference on Weights and Measures as an
. -1
SI derived unit and hence the unit for the specific conductivity evolved into S m .
. -1
In USA, it is still accepted the use of mho cm , the designatory letters mho
representing ohm spelled backwards and being equal from the mathematical point
of view to the reciprocal of that [3], [8].
Molar conductivity is the conductivity of an electrolyte solution normalised
-1. 2. -1 . 2. -1
with respect to its molar concentration, and hence the unit, m mol or S m mol ,
while the equivalent conductivity is the conductivity of an electrolyte solution
-1. 2. -1
normalised with respect to its equivalent concentration, the unit being cm Eg
. 2. -1
or S cm Eg :
v
c (3)
v
e
cz z (4)
2. Experimental
Reagents
All the reagents used were p.a. grade supplied by Sigma-Aldrich, Chempar
Ltd and ChimReactiv SRL.
35
Conductivity cell constant revisited
a specific property of the measuring conductivity cell, is called the cell constant,
-1 -1
and is measured in m or cm . It should be pointed out that the above
relationship, calculated as the ratio of the distance between the electrodes and the
electrodes common surface represents the geometrical cell constant and that
differs from the real cell constant which is determined experimentally.
Moreover, as there are an increased number of cell designs with a
combination of 2, 3 or 4 electrodes, it is almost impossible to determine the real
cell constant from its physical dimensions, as the current distribution between
these electrode combinations varies greatly. To make things even more difficult,
. -1
as the practical conductivities vary over six orders of magnitude, from μS cm to
. -1
S cm , it is very difficult to use only one cell constant to cover the entire field
-1
(e.g. a conductivity cell having Kcell=1cm may be used for low to relatively high
values of conductivity), high conductivity values requiring high cell constants,
while low conductivity values require low cell constants, the range of cell
-1 -1
constants varying between 0.01 cm and 50 cm [3].
To overcome this shortcoming, one may use multiple conductivity cells
having different cell constants (a high cost option). Another option is to
electronically modify the cell constant, obtaining full accuracy over a greater
conductivity range using a single conductivity cell [3], but this also increases the
investment cost requiring an expensive equipment. Nevertheless, similar results
may be achieved using a conductivity cell with a physical adjustable cell constant,
36
Ioana-Alina Ciobotaru, Florin Mihai Benga, Oana Claudia Barbu, George Costin Lazar, Claudiu
Campureanu, Traian Rus and Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
where the cell constant can be changed either by changing the electrodes distance
or by changing the electrodes surface [3, 8, 18, 19]. In figures 1 and 2 are
represented the main elements of such a cell, where in-between the two platinised
platinum electrodes one inserts PTFE templates of different thicknesses and
different patterns. By changing the templates, one can easily change the distance
between the electrodes and the electrode surface as only the electrode area
equivalent with the area of the cut channel will be exposed to the solution.
The feature of this conductivity cell is that one achieves a wide range of
-1
cell constants (between 0.5 and 15 cm ) without the need of electronic
compensation, these configurations allowing an extra degree of freedom to modify
the hydrodynamic range, should one need to use the cell as a flow-through cell.
The construction of this type of conductivity cell consists of a “sandwich”
of two platinised platinum half-cells, inserted into PERSPEX layers, and various
interchangeable PTFE templates which have rectangular channels cut, so that a
wide range of configurations can be covered (see figure 1 and figure 2). The
templates have various thicknesses to provide a controlled variable distance
between the electrodes when the templates are inserted between the half-cells.
The novel variable cell constant conductivity cell presented in this paper
consists of two platinised platinum electrodes, 1, (see figure 3), of a geometric
2
surface area S, of 1 cm , positioned in a PODEC (parallel opposed dual electrode
cell) configuration, at a distance, l, adjustable (between 1.34 mm and 24.59 mm,
measured with a Mitutoyo digital micrometer of 0.001 mm resolution). By
twisting the micrometer screw, one may now increase or decrease the electrodes
distance and hence may adjust the conductivity cell at will. Unlike the
configurations presented in figure 1 and 2, which can be used only in conjunction
with a flow injection analysis system, this novel cell may also be used in more
traditional experiments involving all sorts of shapes and sizes of chemical
glassware.
37
Conductivity cell constant revisited
This cell presents also the advantage that, once it is calibrated and the
dependence between the cell constant and the electrode distance is established,
fig. 4, one may now change the cell constant simply by counting the number of
turns of the micrometric screw, fig. 5.
38
Ioana-Alina Ciobotaru, Florin Mihai Benga, Oana Claudia Barbu, George Costin Lazar, Claudiu
Campureanu, Traian Rus and Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
3,00
K practic, cm‐
2,50
1
2,00
k, 1/cm
1,50
1,00
0,50
0,00
0,000 0,500 1,000 1,500 2,000 2,500 3,000
l, cm
Fig. 4. The dependence of the cell constant, k, versus the electrode distance, l.
3,00
K practic, cm‐
2,50 1
2,00
1/cm1
,50
K
,
1,00
0,50
0,00
0 2 4 6 8 10 12
n
Fig. 5. The dependence of the cell constant, k, versus the number of turns of the
micrometric screw, n.
39
Conductivity cell constant revisited
achieved by using calibration standard solutions, which should be near to the high
end of the range of operation for the cell conductivity. Normally, a slim beaker
should be used and the cell has to be suspended above the bottom rather than left
to sit on the bottom of the beaker. As the air bubbles cause errors in conductivity
readings by masking certain areas of the electrodes, one has to remove the air by
gently tapping the cell or raising and lowering it to get rid of the trapped bubbles.
As there is an initial drift, one shall start the calibration procedure only when there
is little or no variation in the acquired values (stable readings) [3].
There is an equivalence in the determination of the conductivity cell
constant and calibrating the conductivity cell. If one uses an AC compensating
bridge (e.g. Kohlrausch bridge), then the cell constant must be determined before
the measurements, as the conductivity is calculated as a ratio of the cell constant
and the value of the measured resistance (in fact impedance) [3-10]:
K
cell
R (6)
In order to determine the cell constant for the above said purpose, one
o
should dry approximately 5 g of KCl in an oven at about 110 C for 8 hours, and
then place it in a dessicator and leave it to cool to the room temperature. A
quantity of 0.7455 g should be weigh precisely and transferred into a clean, dry
o
1000 mL volumetric flask, and filled with distilled water of 25 C to the mark. If
o o
the flask was graded for 20 C, then the water must have 20 C. The conductivity
cell/probe is soaked in distilled or deionised water for 15 minute, dried and
immersed in a slim beaker containing the calibration solution. Using a Kohlrausch
bridge or an equivalent system and a thermostated system to maintain the
o
calibration sample at 25 C, one shall determine now the value of the resistance
. -1
and knowing the value of the calibration sample conductivity (1413 μS cm ) the
Kcell R
cell constant is calculated as . Should the calibration take place at a
different temperature, then a temperature compensation procedure (as explained
below) must be followed to ensure the best accuracy for this determination.
The standard solution may be stored in a HDPE storage bottle for up to
one year. For different calibration standards, only the amount of KCl differs, the
procedure remains the same. If a proper conductivity meter is used, then the
calibration is carried out using a standard calibrating sample solution of known
conductivity and adjusting the calibration knob (or pressing the calibration button
for digital equipment) until the displayed value is identical to that written on the
calibration standard sample.
Calibration troubleshooting
If the cell constant differs with more than 15% from the initial value, as a
result of some physical changes or surface deplatination, some conductivity
40
Ioana-Alina Ciobotaru, Florin Mihai Benga, Oana Claudia Barbu, George Costin Lazar, Claudiu
Campureanu, Traian Rus and Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
meters will abort the calibration procedure (see figure 6), suggesting buying a new
conductivity cell. The cell may be revived by replatination (as discussed below) or
by a fine tuning using a simple external precision variable resistance (a Voltcraft
precision resistance decade box R-Box 01 - 1% precision, 0.3 W - was used)
connected in series with the conductivity cell, so that the software is tricked to
accept the constant cell as being within the manufacturer prescribed range and
will calibrate the cell (figure 7), supplying at the same time the value of the
conductivity cell constant. As one can see, the difference in the value of the cell
-1 -1
constant was only 1% above the accepted limits (1.016 cm instead of 1.015 cm
-1
for a conductivity cell of 1 cm ).
This procedure was successfully used in the calibration of another novel
multiparameter electrochemical cell employed for the characterisation and the
determination of the optimum hydrolysis time, reported in details in [21].
41
Conductivity cell constant revisited
42
Ioana-Alina Ciobotaru, Florin Mihai Benga, Oana Claudia Barbu, George Costin Lazar, Claudiu
Campureanu, Traian Rus and Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
is the conductivity of that solution at25o 25ºC (may be taken from tables or
measured at that particular temperature),C is the temperature compensation factor
(some typical values of are presented in Table 1) and T is the actual temperature of
solution. Where the temperature compensation factor is not known, it can be
evaluated by plotting the value of conductivity versus temperature for a given
temperature range or by using the default values of 2-2.1%/ºC to compensate the
variation of conductivity with temperature [3], [8], [20]. The effect is stronger in
low conductivity solutions. Below is given a calculus sample for the manual
temperature compensation procedure.
Table 1
Most Common Temperature Compensation Factors [3], [20]
Substance % change / ºC
HCl 10% 1.56
HNO3 31% 1.39
H2SO 4 20% 1.45
KOH 8.4% 1.86
KCl below 5% 2.01
Acids 1-1.6
Bases 1.8-2.2
Salts 2.2-3
Water 2
Manual temperature compensation procedure
-1
A conductivity cell having the cell constant of 1 cm is subjected to a
o . -1
calibration procedure, at a temperature of 20 C, using a standard of 1413 μS cm
o
at 25 C [20]. The equipment does not have an automatic compensation feature,
nor a temperature sensor contained, so a manual compensation procedure needs to
be carried out. In order to do this, one has to:
43
Conductivity cell constant revisited
a) immerse the conductivity cell into the standard solution and let it 5
minutes for the cell temperature and standard solution temperature to reach an
equilibrium;
o
b) measure precisely the standard solution temperature (let it be 20 C);
o
c) determine the standard conductivity value at 20 C;
1
o 1413 1 0.0201 20 25 1271 S cm (8)
KCl @20 C
d) adjust the value on the conductivity meter using the calibration knob to
. -1
the value of 1271 μS cm ;
e) remove the cell and insert it into a beaker containing a solution of
unknown concentration of KCl, at the same temperature and read the displayed
. -1
value, e.g. 825 μS cm (if the substance and/or the temperature are different, one
shall replace in the formula (9) the corresponding values for the temperature
compensation factor, from tables published in [20] or similar references and the
temperature);
o
f) calculate the conductivity for the corresponding temperature of 25 C;
825 1 0.0201 20 o
25 (9)
KCl unknown sample @ 25 C
825 917 S cm
1
o
KCl unknown sample @ 25 C
1
0.0201 20 25 (10)
6. Conclusions
Although the cost of conductivity meters came down, it remains still high
on the long term, due to the need for more than one conductivity cells/probes to
cover the whole range of values or to the need for conductivity cells/probes
replacement, once they are decalibrated by deplatinisation or electrode fouling.
The paper presents, besides a novel variable cell constant conductivity cell that
may be employed in a whole range of experiments requiring different conductivity
cell constants, some practical solutions to a number of problems associated with
conductivity measurements and the determination of the conductivity cell
constant, including that of artificially adjusting and bringing the cell constant
within the required equipment range, so that the digital conductivity meter will
accept the calibration, even though the cell constant differs more than 15% from
its initial value. A procedure for manual temperature compensation, as well as one
for replatinising the cell electrodes are also presented.
4. Acknowledgments
Special thanks go to Mr. Corneliu Andrei for providing the logistic support
and to Mrs. Mariana Andrei for supplying the necessary reagents.
44
Ioana-Alina Ciobotaru, Florin Mihai Benga, Oana Claudia Barbu, George Costin Lazar, Claudiu
Campureanu, Traian Rus and Danut-Ionel Vaireanu
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45
Conductivity cell constant revisited
[21]. Ciobotaru, I.A., Maior, I., Cojocaru, A., Caprarescu, S., Vaireanu, D.I., Ciobotaru, I.E., The determination of the
optimum hydrolysis time for silane films deposition, Applied Surface Science, 371, (2016), 275-280.