Optical phosphate-ion sensors based on electrochromism of oxide thin-film electrodes were developed. Among the oxide thin-films tested, it was found that Co
3O
4 and NiO -based electrodes prepared onto ITO glasses by a sol-gel method showed good sensing performance, i.e., the transmittance at 400-800nm of the electrodes changed reversibly depending on HPO
42- concentration under applying anodic electrode potentials. The transmittance change of Co
3O
4 based element at 620nm was almost linear to the logarithm of the HPO
42- concentration between 1.0×10
-6 and 1.0×10
-2 M at+0.4 V vs. SCE. The 90% response time of the element, when the electrode potential was changed from +0.4 to 0 V vs. SCE at 1.0×10
-2 M, was about 50s at room temperature.
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