Catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetric determination of copper(II) on a carbon paste electrode

A catalytic adsorptive stripping voltammetric method for the determination of copper(II) on a carbon paste electrode (PCE) in an alizarin red S (ARS)-K2S2O8 system is proposed. In this method, copper(II) is effectively enriched by both the formation and adsorption of a copper(II)-ARS complex on the PCE, and is determined by catalytic stripping voltammetry. The catalytic enhancement of the cathodic stripping current of the Cu(II) in the complex results from a redox cycle consisting of electrochemical reduction of Cu(II) ion in the complex and subsequent chemical oxidation of the Cu(II) reduction product by persulfate, which reduces the contamination of the working electrode from Cu deposition and also improves analytical sensitivity. In Britton-Robinson buffer (pH 4.56+/-0.1) containing 3.6 x 10(-5) mol L(-1) ARS and 1.6 x 10(-3) mol L(-1) K2S2O8, with 180 s of accumulation at -0.2 V, the second-order derivative peak current of the catalytic stripping wave was proportional to the copper(II) concentration in the range of 8.0 x 10(-10) to approximately 3.0 x 10(-8) mol L(-1). The detection limit was 1.6 x 10(-10) mol L(-1). The proposed method was evaluated by analyzing copper in water and soil.