Aim:

Electrochemical measurement of heavy metal ions in a water sample with the help of differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry.

Introduction:

Heavy metal ions are one of the primary sources of water pollution, as they are non- biodegradable and contaminate most of the natural resources occurring in the environment. Accumulating toxic metals or an inadequate balance of the required metals in a diet can cause diseases in the human body, such as modifications to blood pressure, triglycerides, the central nervous system, bones, liver, and kidneys. With the increasing demand for heavy metal detection, electrochemical detection is favorable because of its high sensitivity and efficiency. There are a variety of electrochemical methods that can be used for the detection of heavy metal ions, the most effective method is differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). It is a technique that involves applying amplitude potential pulses on a linear ramp potential. There are various advantages of using the differential pulse technique over the normal pulse technique. Differential pulse voltammetry can distinguish faradaic waves better from the background because of the larger second derivative of the current relation for faradaic processes compared to the normal pulse technique. In DPV, a base potential value is chosen at which there is no faradaic reaction and applies to the electrode. The base potential is increased between pulses with equal increments. Pulse voltammetry methods take advantage of the synergy between a double-step potential, with a constant pulse time superimposed on a staircase sweep potential. The determination of heavy metal ions in a water sample is carried out by differential pulse voltammetry (DP). DP shows increased sensitivity compared to linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) and cyclic voltammetry (CV). Therefore DP is the method of choice for quantitative determinations.