Cadmium(II) binding by soil-derived fulvic acid measured by anodic stripping voltammetry

Titrations of aqueous solutions of soil fulvic acid (30, 45, and 60 mg l^-1) with cadmium ion solutions at pH 6 and 7 reveal unusual shapes in the stripping current (i_s) vs. total cadmium ion (C_cd²⁺) curves. The expected inflections occur in the titration curves at 8–16 μM. at pH 6 and 12–26 μM at pH 7. In addition, there is an initial rapid increase in i_s at very low C_cd²⁺. The initial rapid increase in current is attributed to labile cadmium—fulvic acid complexes that contribute to i_s by rapid dissociation. Subsequent addition of cadmium ion results in moderately labile complexes and i_s becomes partially kinetically controlled. The stripping current was corrected for kinetic current contributions from dissociation of complexes, and total ligand concentrations, conditional stability constants, and upper slopes were calculated from data well past the titration end-point. The use of upper slopes after kinetic current corrections as in situ calibration curves, allowed calculations of equilibrium cadmium concentrations. The data show that both kinetic current corrections and in situ calibration curves are necessary to avoid substantial errors in calculations of equilibrium cadmium concentrations from anodic stripping voltammetric experiments.