IDENTIFICATION OF METAL-ION SOLUTIONS USING ACOUSTIC PLATE MODE DEVICES AND PATTERN-RECOGNITION

The temperature dependence of acoustic plate mode (APM) devices used a s probes for dilute electrolytes is described. Specifically, the probe responses that consist of the frequency change and device loss were s tudied for dilute aqueous solutions of alkali metal ions. It is shown that by integrating the temperature dependence of the APM probe respon ses with pattern recognition techniques, valuable information about th e solutions can be obtained that include identification and quantifica tion. A preliminary investigation of the feasibility of identifying bi nary mixtures of the alkali metal ion solutions using only the tempera ture responses was also conducted that shows good results.