Voltammetric detection of mercury ions at poly(azulene-EDTA) like screen printed modified electrodes

In spite of the large number of publications concerning quantitative analysis of metal ions by different electroanalytical techniques, their complete method validation is not frequently carried out. Electrochemists often view the validation procedure as a time consuming novelty and do not give it the scientific value deserved, thus neglecting to undertake the complete validation procedure. They tend to focus on the exceptional feature of the proposed electrochemical method or assembly, without clearly demonstrating its suitability for quantitative purposes. Because of this, the number of routine analyses by electroanalytical methods employed by various laboratories is unfortunately very low, compared with the less cost-effective and sometimes cumbersome atomic adsorption techniques. Thus, here we present the development of the previously obtained modified electrodes based on poly(2,2'-(ethane-1,2-diylbis((2-(azulen-2-ylamino)-2-oxoethyl)azanediyl))diacetic acid, (polyL) [1, 2] to laboratory-scale studies and physically validate the analytical predictions by developing an assembly system made of screen printed modified electrodes (SPEs) with polyL selective complexing polymeric films coupled with a low-cost, small, portable, stand-alone, hand-held, single-technique, potentiostat to analyze the Hg(II) ions content from environmental water samples. The purpose these modified electrodes is to provide real-time reliable information about the chemical composition of its surrounding environment.

Acknowledgments

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Romanian National Authority for Scientific Research, UEFISCDI, under grant PN-III-P2-2.1-PED-2019-0730, contract no. 293PED/2020.

References

1.G.-O. Buica, I.-G. Lazar, L. Birzan, C. Lete, M. Prodana, M. Enachescu, V. Tecuceanu, A.B. Stoian, E.-M. Ungureanu, Azulene-ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid: A versatile molecule for colorimetric and electrochemical sensors for metal ions, ElectrochimicaActa 263 (2018) 382-390.

2.G.-O. Buica, A.A. Ivanov, I.-G. Lazar, G.-L. Tatu (Arnold), C. Omocea, L. Birzan, E.-M. Ungureanu, Colorimetric and voltammetric sensing of mercury ions using 2,2′-(ethane-1,2-diylbis((2-(azulen-2-ylamino)-2-oxoethyl)azanediyl)) diacetic acid, J.Electroanal.Chem., 849 (2019) 113351.