Determination of trace amounts of copper by adsorptive stripping voltammetry

Abstract

A technique is presented for the determination of trace amounts of copper(II) by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry. The procedure is based on adsorptive accumulation of copper(II)-Alizarin Red S (ARS) complex on a hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by a stripping voltammetric measurement of the reduction current of the adsorbed complex at -0.16 V (vs. Ag/AgCl). The height of the copper -ARS reduction peak is linearly dependent upon the copper(II) concentration between 0.2-15 and 15-500 ng.ml-1. The detection limit of the technique is 0.05 ng.ml-1 copper(II) for a collection time of 1 minute. The method is free from most interferences. The procedure has been successfully applied to the determination of trace mounts of copper(II) in some analytical grade salts.