Novel Approaches to Metal Ion Sensing

The primary focus of this dissertation is the development of new chemical analyses for metal ions. Approaches combining electrochemical, spectroscopic, analytical, inorganic, and materials chemistry have been used to investigate novel methods for metal ion sensing. Topics discussed in this dissertation include pyridinium-functionalized sol-gel films for the enhanced electrochemical analysis of Cr(VI), pyridinium-functionalized sol-gel monoliths for the optical determination of Cr(VI), the use of the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance for the determination of Pd(II), novel electrochemical and spectroscopic approaches to Fe(III) sensing, and the electrochemical quartz crystal microbalance investigation of the Cr(III)-DTPA complex.