Adsorptive voltammetric determination of copper as its nioximate complex

A sensitive and selective stripping voltammetric ultratrace determination of copper is described, based on adsorptive accumulation of the cu(II)-nioxime complex on the surface of a hanging mercury drop electrode, followed by the reduction of the adsorbed complex during the cathodic scan. The analytical conditions for the determination of copper by differential-pulse and linear-scan absorption voltammetry have been optimized. The method is compared to the routine anodic stripping voltammetric method for copper. Its applicability to river and potable water analysis is illustrated. The detection limit, restricted by the blank, is about 0.5 microg/l.; the relative standard deviation (at microg/l. level) for a standard solution is below 5% and for water samples is 5-9%.