Determination of Lead and Cadmium in Sea‐ and Freshwater by Anodic Stripping Voltammetry with a Vibrating Bismuth Electrode

A solid, bismuth (Bi), disk, electrode is used to determine lead (Pb) in natural waters including seawater. The diffusion layer thickness was lowered from 93 to 29 µm by stirring, and to 18 µm by using the vibrated version of the Bi electrode. The Bi electrode does not require removal of dissolved oxygen, which facilitates in situ detection. The electrode was tested for the determination of Pb in coastal seawater samples. The detection limit for Pb was 0.15 nM in acetate buffer and 0.5 nM in seawater using a 2 min deposition time. Cadmium can be determined together with Pb but the sensitivity is about 10×lower. The Bi electrode compares unfavourably to a mercury electrode in terms of sensitivity.