Multicomponent analysis of heavy metal cations and inorganic anions in liquids by a non-selective chalcogenide glass sensor array

A first step towards a multisensor system, based on ion-selective electrodes, for the analysis of complex solutions is presented. An array formed by chalcogenide glass electrodes has been utilized for the quantitative analysis of solutions containing seven ionic species (heavy metal cations and inorganic anions). An important step in working with a sensor array is the data analysis strategy The array data have been processed by multiple linear regression, partial least squares and artificial neural network. By using neural networks the best performances were obtained. It is worth noting that zinc and sulphate have been measured although no specific sensors for these ions were present in the array.