Individual and simultaneous determination of lead, cadmium, and zinc by anodic stripping voltammetry at a bismuth bulk electrode.

A bismuth bulk electrode (BiBE) has been investigated as an alternative electrode for the anodic stripping voltammetric (ASV) analysis of Pb(II), Cd(II), and Zn(II). The BiBE, which is fabricated in-house, shows results comparable to those of similar analyses at other Bi-based electrodes. Metal accumulation is achieved by holding the electrode potential at -1.4V (vs. Ag/AgCl) for 180 s followed by a square wave voltammetric stripping scan from -1.4 to -0.35 V. Calibration plots are obtained for all three metals, individually and simultaneously, in the 10-100 microg L(-1) range, with a detection limit of 93, 54, and 396 ng L(-1) for Pb(II), Cd(II), Zn(II), respectively. A slight reduction in slope is observed for Cd(II) and Pb(II) when the three metals are calibrated simultaneously vs. individually. Comparing the sensitivities of the metals when calibrated individually vs. in a mixture reveals that Zn(II) is not affected by stripping in a mixture. However, Pb(II) and Cd(II) have decreasing sensitivities in a mixture. The optimized method has been successfully used to test contaminated river water by standard addition. The results demonstrate the ability of the BiBE as an alternative electrode material in heavy metal analysis.