Dissolved Oxygen Electrode (Glass)

• Simple, rugged, proven design.​

• Choice of controller.

• Large range of electrode volumes.

• Easy to maintain.

• Thousands of Rank Brothers Oxygen Electrodes in service.

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The need to measure dissolved oxygen is widespread throughout industry and academia with analyses being made on many diverse sample types, from blood to boiler feed water. Applications continue to grow with developments in physiological studies, microbiology research, and biotechnology fermentation processes.

The Dissolved Oxygen Electrode

The Rank Brothers Oxygen Electrode is based on the Clark cell as first described by Leyland C. Clark. The Clark cell is also known as an Oxygen Membrane Polarographic Detector. The electrode has been designed to measure the uptake or production of oxygen by cell suspensions, subcellular particles or enzyme systems. However, the electrode can be used to determine the partial pressure of either gaseous or dissolved oxygen over the range 10(-4) to > 1 atmosphere, making the electrode performance attractive for many applications.

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The electrode as supplied comes in two main components:

• The electrode base, which houses the central platinum working electrode and the surrounding silver/silver chloride counter/reference electrode. Conduction between these electrodes is by 3M potassium chloride with a semi-permeable membrane used to separate the sample.

• The incubation or monitoring chamber mounted on the base had a built in water jacket. This ensures any measurements are conducted at a constant temperature, which is essential for accurate readings. A plunger fits into the top of the chamber and has two functions. The first is to seal the sample from the atmosphere apart from a very small hole that is used to inject materials with a syringe. The second function is to provide a reduction of the specified sample volume by up to 6:1.

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The glass oxygen electrode consists of a borosilicate glass incubation chamber and a Perspex electrode base. The standard glass oxygen electrode has a sample volume of 6 ml (adjustable down to 1 ml via the included plunger). Alternative incubation chambers from 2.5 ml to 50 ml are available. Another option is a flow through plunger with two holes drilled instead of one, enabling the oxygen electrode to sample from a process or flowing system

Glass vs Perspex Dissolved Oxygen Electrode

There are advantages to both types of electrodes as listen below.

Advantages of Glass

• Improved light transmission (ideal for photosynthesis)

• Easier to sterilise (e.g. with steam sterilisation)

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Advantages of Perspex

• Cheaper

• Tougher

• Repairable (can replace broken parts)

Specifications