Determination of selenium in sea water by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry

A procedure is presented for determining Se(IV) and total dissolved Se in sea water using cathodic stripping voltammetry in the presence of added copper. Experiments using cyclic voltammetry indicate that the preconcentration step consists in adsorption of a Cu(I)₂Se complex species on the hanging mercury drop electrode. The optimized analytical conditions include a copper concentration of 40 μM and a solution pH of 1.6. Differential pulse modulation is used. Interference caused by organic surface-active substances present in natural waters in eliminated by UV photolysis of the sample. Cadmium interferes with the determination of Se only when present at a concentration 100 times higher than normal. UV photolysis at pH ≈ 8 is used to convert Se(VI), which is the electroactive species. The response is linear for Se concentrations between 0 and 200 nM. The limit of detection is 0.01 nM Se when a deposition time of 15 min is used.