Development of a new electrochemical method for the determination of copper(ii) at trace levels in environmental and food samples

Abstract

This paper presents the fabrication of a new modified carbon paste electrode (CPE) with N¹-hydroxy-N¹,N²-diphenylbenzamidine (HDPBA) and functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) (HDPBA–MWCNTs/CPE) for highly sensitive and selective determination of Cu(II) using the square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) technique. The fabricated electrode was characterized using various spectroscopic techniques to study its morphological, structural, and electrochemical properties. The accumulation of Cu(II) on the surface of HDPBA–MWCNTs/CPE was done in 0.1 M ammonium chloride (NH₄Cl, pH 5) solution at an applied potential of −0.70 V versus Ag/AgCl for 180 s, followed by electrochemical stripping in the positive scan of the voltammetry after a resting time of 10 s. The developed HDPBA–MWCNTs/CPE was found to be highly selective, sensitive and reproducible. At optimal conditions of the experiment, the proposed method exhibited a very low limit of detection (0.0048 nM Cu(II)), a wide linear dynamic range (0.00007–1.5000 μM Cu(II)), and good reproducibility with relative standard deviation (RSD) value of 3.7%. The effect of various foreign ions on the voltammetric response of Cu(II) was investigated and the electrode was found to be highly selective to Cu(II). The practical applicability of the proposed HDPBA–MWCNTs/CPE was studied by applying the electrode for the quantification of Cu(II) contents in environmental water (wastewater and tap water), soft drink (Fanta and Sprite), and food supplement (commercially available multi-mineral/vitamin tablets) samples. The present method was validated with atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS). The results found from the two methods are in good agreement with a 95% confidence level.