Analytical Applications of Solid and Paste Amalgam Electrodes

Abstract

The review describes working and reference electrodes based on solid and/or paste amalgams and their application for voltammetric, amperometric, and potentiometric determination of both inorganic and organic analytes. Attention is paid to their preparation, pre-treatment and possible modification, and their application in classical voltammetric arrangements, in flowing systems (HPLC-ED, FIA-ED), and in adsorptive transfer stripping voltammetry. The review confirms that amalgam electrodes can successfully substitute mercury electrodes and, in some special cases, offer possibilities not available to mercury electrodes.

Keywords:

• Voltammetry
• solid amalgam electrode
• paste amalgam electrode
• reference amalgam electrode
• amperometric amalgam detector
• potentiometry

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by Grant Agency of the Czech Republic (grant 203/07/1195), GA AS CR (grant IAA 400400806), and by Ministry of Education, Youth, and Sports of the Czech Republic (projects LC 06035 and MSM 0021620857).

Dedicated to the Memory of Professor Jaroslav Heyrovský on the occasion of the 50^th Anniversary of the Nobel Prize for polarography.

Notes

*mercury film thickness l = 1.92 μ m.

*MeSAE—thin solid amalgam layer on metal wire; DPV—differential pulse voltammetry; DCV—direct current voltammetry; ACV—alternating current voltammetry; SWV—square-wave voltammetry; ASV—anodic stripping voltammetry; CSV—cathodic stripping voltammetry; AdSV—adsorptive stripping voltammetry; AdTSV—adsorptive transfer stripping voltammetry; FIA-ED and HPLC-ED—flow injection analysis and HPLC with electrochemical detection; catalyt.—catalytic evolution of hydrogen; BR—Britton-Robinson; MeOH—methanol; ODN – oligonucleotide; ssDNA—single-stranded DNA