The determination of platinum in sea water by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry

The catalytic effect of the formazone complex with platinum on the development of hydrogen at a mercury electrode is used to provide a very sensitive method of determining dissolved platinum in fresh and sea water by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry. The optimal analytical conditions include the addition of 0.012% (w/v) formaldehyde, 0.0015% (w/v) hydrazine and 0.5 M sulphuric acid to the sea water. The complex is adsorbed for 1–20 min at ?0.925 V on the hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by a differential-pulse scan in a negative direction. The hydrogen reduction peak catalysed by the platinum complex appears at ?1.045 V. The limit of detection is 0.04 pM Pt with an adsorption time of 10 min, which is quite sufficient to determine dissolved platinum in sea water. The interference of surface-active compounds is eliminated by ultraviolet irradiation of the acidified sample. The method is applied to several sea-water samples. Comparative experiments showed that stripping chronopotentiometry is not sufficiently sensitive to determine platinum in sea water without preconcentration.