Electrocatalytic Reduction of Nitrite by Phosphotungstic Heteropolyanion. Application for Its Simple and Selective Determination

Three couples of reversible redox peaks of the PW₁₂O₄₀^3? (PW₁₂) anion, which are composed of two one‐electron and one two‐electron processes occur in the potential range from +0.25 to ?0.7 V in aqueous solutions. The electrocatalytic reduction of nitrite has been studied by the first redox couple of the PW₁₂ anion at the surface of a carbon paste electrode. Cyclic voltammetric and chronoamperometric techniques were used to investigate the suitability of PW₁₂ anion as a mediator for nitrite electrocatalytic reduction in aqueous solution with strongly acidic concentration of H₂SO₄. Results showed that H₂SO₄ 1.00 M is the best medium for this purpose. In the optimum concentration of H₂SO₄, the electrocatalytic ability about 500 mV can be seen and the homogeneous second‐order rate constant (k_s) for nitrite coupled catalytically to PW₁₂ anion was calculated as 2.52×10³ M^?1 s^?1 using the Nicholson–Shain method. According to our voltammetric experiments, the catalytic reduction peak current was linearly dependent on the nitrite concentration and the linearity range obtained was 3×10^?5 to 1.00×10^?3 M. The detection limit has been found to be 2.82×10^?5 M (2σ). This method has been applied as a selective, simple, and precise method for determination of nitrite in real samples.