Investigation on the Usage of Clay Modified Electrode for the Electrochemical Determination of Some Pollutants

Abstract

Redox behavior of three pollutants, namely endosulfan (EN), o-chlorophenol (OCP) and direct orange 8 (DO8) were investigated electrochemically using sodium montmorillonite clay modified glassy carbon electrode. Influence of pH, scan rate and concentration were studied on the voltammetric response. Suitable medium for the electrochemical studies of EN was pH 1.0 and for other two pollutants pH 13.0. EN exhibited one well-defined reduction peak accounting for irreversible 2e⁻ transfer and leading to the removal of one chlorine atom. OCP underwent one electron oxidation to the formation of phenoxy radical resulting in an oxidation peak. DO8 showed two peaks for reductions and two peaks for oxidation as a result of the reduction of azo group and oxidation of phenoxide group. These electrochemical reactions of the three pollutants reveals the suitability of clay modified electrode for the electroanalysis. A differential pulse stripping voltammetric procedure for the determination of these pollutants was developed. The limits of determination for EN, OCP and DO8 are 5–300, 10–800 and 50–800 ppb, respectively.

Keywords:

• Endosulfan
• o-Chlorophenol
• Direct orange 8
• Clay
• Voltammetry

Acknowledgments

The authors acknowledge DST, New Delhi, for financial assistance and Atul India Ltd. for providing DO8 sample.