A Study on the Suitability of Carbon Disk Microelectrodes for Trace Analysis of Lead and Copper by ASV

The performance of carbon microdisk electrodes for the simultaneous trace analysis of lead and copper by anodic stripping voltammetry is investigated. The evaluation of the two metal ions in a single step, i.e., by employing a plating potential at which both cations are reduced simultaneously, gives unpredictable results due to the interaction between lead and copper deposited onto the electrode surface. In particular, the calibration plots of lead are not linear, while the copper stripping peak is quite broad and irreproducible. A two-steps deposition procedure, based on a preelectrolysis of copper performed at a potential at which lead ion is not reduced, followed by a simultaneous reduction of the two cations at large enough negative potentials, provides, instead, linear calibration graphs for lead. Copper can be determined without interference by plating the metal at a negative potential where lead ion is not reduced. The reliability of the two-steps procedure for the determination of lead and copper is verified in rain and wine samples.