Automated determination of total arsenic in sea water by flow constant-current stripping analysis with gold fibre electrodes

Total arsenic in sea water is determined in a fully automated flow system, by means of potentiostatic deposition for 4 min at a 25-μm gold fibre electrode and subsequent constant-current stripping in 5 M hydrochloric acid. Previously the sample is acidified with hydrochloric and arsenic(V) is reduced to arsenic(III) with iodide. During stripping, the potential vs. time transient is recorded with a real-time measurement rate of 26.5 kHz and a potential resolution of 1 mV. Cleaning and regeneration of the gold electrode are fully automated. The total arsenic concentrations in two reference sea waters (NASS-1 and CASS-1) were evaluated by single-point standard addition and found to be 1.58 and 1.14 μg l^?1 with standard deviations of 0.39 and 0.28 μg l^?1, respectively; certified values are 1.65 ± 0.19 and 1.04 ± 0.07 μg l^?1. The arsenic(III) content in these samples was below the detection limit (0.15 μg l^?1).