Comparison of a voltammetric electronic tongue and a lipid membrane taste sensor

An electronic tongue based on voltammetry and a multichannel lipid membrane taste sensor based on potentiometry are compared using two aqueous example s: detergents and teas. The electronic tongue consists of four electrodes o f different metals, a reference electrode and a counter electrode. The meas urement principle is based on pulse voltammetry in which current is measure d during the change of the amplitude of the applied potential. The taste se nsor is based on eight different lipid/polymer membranes. The voltage diffe rence between the electrodes and an Ag/AgCl reference electrode is measured when the current is close to zero. The responses from the two sensors syst ems are treated separately with multivariate data analysis based on princip al component analysis and then merged to examine if further information cou ld be extracted. It is shown that although the two sensor systems are about equal in separation ability in the two cases, extra information can be gai ned by combination of the two sensor systems. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V . All rights reserved.