Gold nanoparticles-modified screen-printed carbon electrodes for anodic stripping voltammetric determination of mercury in ambient water samples

We present here a simple, fast and cheap procedure for the determination of Hg(II) by square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) at a commercial gold nanoparticles-modified screen-printed carbon electrodes (AuNPs-SPCEs), as a tool for environmental waters monitoring. The advantages of electrode nanostructuration are exploited, e.g. no stirring for the deposition step is needed. The surface of the gold nanostructured screen-printed carbon electrodes was characterized using SEM, XPS and electrochemical methods. All experimental variables involved in the voltammetric stripping method were optimized to develop a reliable method capable of measuring dissolved mercury in the low ng/mL range. The proposed method was tested with the NIST 1641d Mercury in Water Standard Reference Material with good agreement. The applicability of the AuNPs-SPCEs for Hg(II) determination in real ambient water samples, namely rain water, river water and industrial waste water, without any sample pretreatment, was successfully demonstrated. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.