Inexpensive and green electrochemical sensor for the determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry in bivalve mollusks.

An inexpensive and environmental friendly electrochemical sensor based on a glassy carbon electrode (GC) modified with graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and Nafion (NF) has been developed for the determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in bivalve mollusks using square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV). GQDs were characterized by UV-Vis spectroscopy, fluorescence and transmission electronic microscopy (TEM). The modified electrode was evaluated by cyclic voltammetry, scanning electronic microscopy (SEM) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). A linearity of 20-200 µg L-1 was found, with a limit of detection (LOD) of 11.30 µg L-1 for Cd(II) and 8.49 µg L-1 for Pb(II). The proposed methodology was validated with a certified reference material TMDA-64.2. The reproducibility of GC/GQDs-NF for both species had an RSD of less than 10%. The results were compared with ICP-OES. The method was applied in the determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in bivalve mollusks samples with excellent results.

Electrical and Electrochemical Behavior of Carbon Paste Electrodes Modified with Ionic Liquids Based in N-Octylpyridinium Bis(Trifluoromethylsulfonyl)Imide. A Theoretical and Experimental Study.

In this work, we studied carbon paste electrodes (CPEs) with two kinds of binders: mineral oil or ionic liquids (IL) derived from N-substituted octyl pyridinium bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide with the substituents H-, CH3-, CN- and CF3-. The work aims to study this series of IL and determine a possible effect of the substituent of the cation in the behavior of the IL as a binder of graphite for obtaining IL-CPEs. The electrochemical response and the electrical behavior were measured by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, respectively. Surprisingly, the substituent does not affect the cyclic voltammetry response because in all the cases, high resistance and high capacitive currents were obtained. The best response in terms of conductivity is obtained by CPE. In the case of impedance measurements, the substituent does not cause differences, and in all the cases, the IL-CPEs show nearly the same responses. CPE shows lower capacitance and higher resistance for diffusion compared to the IL-CPEs due to his lower porosity. The high resistance showed by the IL-CPEs by cyclic voltammetry can be attributed to poorly intermolecular forces among graphite, water, electrolyte, and ILs as demonstrated by theoretical calculations.