Diffusion rate of hydrogen peroxide through water-swelled polyurethane membranes

Abstract

In our efforts to design an optical sensor for hydrogen peroxide, we have realized the importance of knowing/controlling the diffusion of hydrogen peroxide to the indicator, especially in the case of an irreversible indicator. Since we found little literature data, we decided to test the permeability of hydrogen peroxide in commercially available polymers, focusing on the polyurethanes HydroMed™ and HydroThane™, which are commonly used for immobilization matrices in optical sensors. Measured values are between 5.12 10−9 ± 8.50 10−10 and 2.25 10−6 ± 1.00 10−7 cm2 s−1. Keywords: Hydrogen peroxide, Polymer membrane, Permeability, Diffusivity