Electrochemical reduction of Ni(II) on the hanging mercury drop electrode in the presence of dimethylglyoxime

Electrochemical sensing platform based on Zeolite/Graphite/Dimethylglyoxime nanocomposite for highly selective and ultrasensitive determination of nickel

In this work, the fabrication and analytical application of a novel, unique, mercury-free, and user-friendly voltammetric sensor of Ni(II) based on glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with zeolite(MOR)/graphite(G)/dimethylglyoxime(DMG) composite (MOR/G/DMG-GCE) and the voltammetric procedure for highly selective, ultra-trace determination of nickel ions were reported for the first time. Deposition of a thin layer of the chemically active MOR/G/DMG nanocomposite enables the selective and effective accumulation of Ni(II) ions in the form of the DMG-Ni(II) complex. In 0.1 mol L^-1 ammonia buffer (pH 9.0), the MOR/G/DMG-GCE exhibited linear response in the Ni(II) ions concentration range of 0.86 - 19.61 µg L^-1 and 0.57 - 15.75 µg L^-1, for the accumulation time of 30 s and 60 s, respectively. For 60 s of accumulation time, the limit of detection (S/N = 3) was 0.18 µg L^-1 (3.04 nM), and sensitivity of 0.202 µA L µg^-1 was achieved. The developed protocol was validated by the analysis of wastewater certified reference materials. Its practical usefulness was confirmed by the determination of nickel released from metallic jewelry submerged in artificial sweat and stainless steel pot during water boiling. The obtained results were verified by electrothermal atomic absorption spectroscopy as a reference method.

Determination of Trace Levels of Nickel(II) by Adsorptive Stripping Voltammetry Using a Disposable and Low-Cost Carbon Screen-Printed Electrode

A commercial and disposable screen-printed carbon electrode (SPCE) has been proposed for a fast, simple and low-cost determination of Ni(II) at very low concentration levels by differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry (DPAdSV) in the presence of dimethylglyoxime (DMG) as complexing agent. In contrast with previously proposed methods, the Ni(II)-DMG complex adsorbs directly on the screen-printed carbon surface, with no need of mercury, bismuth or antimony coatings. Well-defined stripping peaks and a linear dependence of the peak area on the concentration of Ni(II) was achieved in the range from 1.7 to 150 µg L−1, with a limit of detection of 0.5 µg L−1 using a deposition time of 120 s. An excellent reproducibility and repeatability with 0.3% (n = 3) and 1.5% (n = 15) relative standard deviation, respectively, were obtained. In addition, the suitability of the SPCE as sensing unit has been successfully assessed in a wastewater certificated reference material with remarkable trueness and very good reproducibility.

Validation of bismuth film electrode for determination of cobalt and cadmium in soil extracts using ICP-MS

A study is presented on the use of the bismuth film electrode (BiFE) operated in the anodic stripping and the cathodic adsorptive stripping voltammetry (ASV, CAdSV) modes, for the determination of two trace heavy metals (Cd and Co, respectively), in soil extract samples. Two types of BiFE were examined in this study: the in situ prepared BiFE, which was employed in ASV determination of Cd, and the ex situ prepared BiFE, which was used in CAdSV of Co with dimethylglyoxime (DMG) as complexing agent. A series of unpretreated soil extracts with varying Cd and Co concentrations were analyzed, and the results obtained compared to those determined using inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The results revealed the suitability of stripping analysis at the BiFE for determination of mugl(-1) levels of heavy metals in soil extracts. The promising results obtained here, coupled with the non-toxic nature of bismuth (in comparison to commonly used mercury electrodes employed in stripping analysis), offer great promise in centralized and decentralized analysis of trace heavy metals in complex environmental matrices.

Electrochemical and spectroscopic investigation of the reduction of dimethylglyoxime at mercury electrodes in the presence of cobalt and nickel

Voltammograms (polarograms) obtained from solutions of cobalt and nickel containing dimethylglyoxime (dmgH(2)) are widely used for the trace determination of these metals. Detailed electrochemical and spectroscopic studies on the reduction process observed in the analytically important ammonia buffer media at mercury dropping, hanging, and pool electrodes are all consistent with an overall 10-electron reduction process, in which both the dmgH(2) ligand and cobalt ions are reduced in the adsorbed state:  Co(II) + 2dmgH(2) ⇌ (solution) [Co(II)(dmgH)(2)] + 2H(+); [Co(II)(dmgH)(2)] + Hg ⇌ (electrode) [Co(II)(dmgH)(2)](ads)Hg; and [Co(II)(dmgH)(2)](ads)Hg + 10e(-) + 10H(+) → Co(Hg) + 2[2,3-bis(hydroxylamino)butane]. The limited solubility of the nickel complex in aqueous media restricts the range of studies that can be undertaken with this system, but an analogous mechanism is believed to occur. Low-temperature voltammetric studies in dichloromethane at a frozen hanging mercury drop electrode and in situ electron spin resonance electrochemical measurements on more soluble analogues of the dimethylglyoxime complexes are consistent with an initial one-electron reduction step being available in the absence of water. Deliberate addition of water to acetone solutions enables the influence of the aqueous environment on voltammograms and polarograms to be examined. The results of the present study are compared with the wide range of mechanisms proposed in other studies.

Square-wave cathodic adsorptive stripping voltammetry of risperidone

Electrochemical properties and diffusion-adsorption behavior of risperidone (RPN), an antiphyscotic drug, on hanging mercury drop electrode (HMDE) were carried out in Britton–Robinson (BR) buffer. Some electrochemical parameters such as diffusion coefficient, number of transferred electrons and proton participated to its reduction mechanism and surface coverage coefficient were calculated from the results of cyclic voltammetry, square-wave voltammetry and constant potential electrolysis. RPN was found to be reduced with single two-electron/two-proton quasi-reversible mechanism controlled mainly by adsorption with some diffusion contribution at the potential about –1.58 V (vs Ag|AgCl electrode). Experimental parameters were optimized to develop a new, accurate, rapid, selective and simple square-wave cathodic adsorptive stripping voltammetric (SWCAdSV) method for direct determination of RPN in pharmaceutical dosage forms, spiked human urine and human serum samples without time-consuming steps prior to drug assay. This method was based on the relation between the peak current and the concentration of RPN and it was recognized that peak current of reduction wave linearly changes with the concentration of RPN in the concentration range of 1.5–150 nM, when optimum preconcentration potential –0.65 V and optimum preconcentration time 60 s were applied. In this method, limit of detection (LOD) was found as 5.18 nM (2.12 ppb). The method was successfully applied to determine the RPN content of commercial pharmaceutical preparations, spiked human serum and spiked human urine. The method was found to be highly accurate and precise, having a relative standard deviation of less than 4.80% for all applications.

A solid paraffin-based carbon paste electrode modified with 2-aminothiazole organofunctionalized silica for differential pulse adsorptive stripping analysis of nickel in ethanol fuel

A solid paraffin-based carbon paste electrode modified with 2-aminothiazole organofunctionalized silica (SiAt-SPCPE) was applied to Ni(2+) determination in commercial ethanol fuel samples. The proposed method comprised four steps: (1) Ni(2+) preconcentration at open circuit potential directly in the ethanol fuel sample, (2) transference of the electrode to an electrochemical cell containing DMG, (3) differential pulse voltammogram registering and (4) surface regeneration by polishing the electrode. The proposed method combines the high Ni(2+) adsorption capacity presented by 2-aminothiazole organofunctionalized silica with the electrochemical properties of the Ni(DMG)(2) complex, whose electrochemical reduction provides the analytical signal. All experimental parameters involved in the proposed method were optimized. Using a preconcentration time of 20 min, it was obtained a linear range from 7.5 x 10(-9) to 1.0 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) with detection limit of 2.0 x 10(-9) mol L(-1). Recovery values between 96.5 and 102.4% were obtained for commercial samples spiked with 1.0 micromol L(-1) Ni(2+) and the developed electrode was totally stable in ethanolic solutions. The contents of Ni(2+) found in the commercial samples using the proposed method were compared to those obtained by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectroscopy by using the F- and t-test. Neither the F- nor t-values exceeded the critical values at 95% confidence level, confirming that there are not statistical differences between the results obtained by both methods. These results indicate that the developed electrode can be successfully employed to reliable Ni(2+) determination in commercial ethanol fuel samples without any sample pretreatment or dilution step.

Economic bismuth-film microsensor for anodic stripping analysis of trace heavy metals using differential pulse voltammetry

Stripping analysis has been widely recognised as a powerful tool in trace metal analysis. Its remarkable sensitivity is attributed to the combination of a preconcentration step coupled with pulse measurements that generate an extremely high signal-to-background ratio. Mercury-based electrodes have traditionally been used to achieve high reproducibility and sensitivity in the stripping technique. Because of the toxicity of mercury, however, new alternative electrode materials are highly desired, particularly for on-site monitoring. Use of thin films of bismuth deposited on platinum or glassy-carbon substrates has recently been proposed as a possible alternative to mercury--bismuth is "environmentally friendly", of low toxicity, and is in widespread pharmaceutical use. In this paper the preparation of economic bismuth-film microelectrodes by electrodeposition on a copper substrate and their application to heavy metal analysis are described. Bismuth-film electrodes were prepared by potentiostatic electrodeposition. Optimum conditions for chemical and electrochemical deposition to obtain an adherent, reproducible, and robust deposit were determined. The suitability of such microelectrodes for analysis of heavy metals was evaluated by anodic stripping voltammetry of cadmium. The analytical performance of bismuth-film electrodes for anodic stripping voltammetry of heavy metals was evaluated for non-deaerated solutions containing Cd2+, Pb2+, and Zn2+ ions. Well-defined peaks with low background current were obtained by use of differential pulse voltammetry. Linear calibration plots were obtained for Cd2+ in acidified tap water at concentrations ranging from 2 x 10(-8) to 1 x 10(-7) mol L(-1) and from 1 x 10(-7) to 1 x 10(-6) mol L(-1) with relative standard deviations of 5% (n = 15) at the 1 x 10(-7) mol L(-1) level. The method was then successfully used to monitor the Cd2+ content of plant extracts and validated by polarographic and ICP-MS measurements. These results open the possibility of using bismuth-coated copper electrodes as an alternative to mercury-based electrodes for analysis of heavy metals. The main problem remaining, which prevents on-site monitoring of heavy metals, is the need to use slightly acidic media, because formation of bismuth hydroxide on the film surface above pH 4.3 leads to non-reproducible measurements. Further experiments will be performed to discover whether electrode conditioning can be used to enable reproducible measurement in on-site monitoring of cadmium in natural waters. Moreover, further study should be conducted to evaluate the potential of BiFE for analysis of several pollutants of interest that are usually determined electrochemically by using mercury-based electrodes.

A kinetic study of nickel complexation in model systems by adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry

Adsorptive cathodic stripping voltammetry (AdCSV) in conjunction with the competing ligand-exchange method (CLEM) was investigated as a tool for measuring dissociation rate coefficients of nickel complexes in model systems. Dimethylglyoxime (DMG) was used as the competing ligand. Citric acid (CA) and a well-characterized fulvic acid (FA) were used as model ligands. The rate coefficients were calculated, and the consistency of equilibrium and kinetic data was discussed. The contributions of the disjunctive pathway (proceeding by the dissociation of the initial complex) and the adjunctive pathway (proceeding by the formation of an intermediate complex as a result of direct attack of the competing ligand on the initial complex) on the overall reactions were investigated. The reactions of Ni-CA or Ni-FA complexes with DMG were demonstrated to proceed by both disjunctive and adjunctive pathways. The predominant pathway for the overall reaction depends on the nickel-to-initial ligand and the DMG-to-initial ligand ratios. The reactions follow predominantly the disjunctive pathway for [DMG] > or = 3 mM and Ni-to-dissolved organic carbon (DOC) ratios greater than 10 nM Ni 2+/g of DOC. Since free nickel ion in freshwaters is reported to be toxic, its rate and pathway of formation are of environmental concern.