Determination of traces of antimony and tin in copper by anodic stripping voltammetry

The determination of antimony and tin impurities in copper by anodic stripping voltammetry on a hanging mercury drop electrode is described. Antimony and tin were previously separated from copper by distillation with hydrobromic acid or a mixture of hydrobromic acid and hydrochloric acid. The method was applied to the analysis of various high-purity copper samples, commercially available, showing satisfactory sensitivity and precision. The determination limit was about 1.4· 10^-9M for antimony and 7·10^-10M for tin in solution, for pre-electrolysis times of respectively 15 and 25 min; this corresponds to 0.8 p.p.b. of antimony and 0.3 p.p.b. of tin for a 2-g sample and a final volume of 10 ml after separation.