Direct and simultaneous determination of phenol, hydroquinone and nitrophenol at boron-doped diamond film electrode

The electrochemical characteristics of multi-component phenolic pollutants, such as phenol (Ph), hydroquinone (HQ) and 4-nitrophenol (4-NP), were investigated on boron-doped diamond (BDD) film electrode by differential pulse voltammetry (DPV) technique. A simple and feasible platform was accordingly established for the direct and simultaneous determination of these three phenolic pollutants. Results showed that, Ph, HQ and 4-NP gave obvious oxidation peaks on BDD electrode at the potential of 1.24, 0.76 and 1.52 V, respectively. Each of them displayed good linear relationship between their oxidation peak currents and their corresponding concentrations in a rather wide range coexisting with one or two of the other phenolic pollutants. The detection limits of Ph, HQ and 4-NP were estimated to be as low as 1.82 X 10(-6), 1.67 X 10(-6) and 1.44 X 10(-6) mol center dot L-l, respectively. Therefore, a promising direct and simultaneous electrochemical determination method of multi-component phenolic pollutants in wastewater samples was constructed successfully on BDD electrode with advantages being rapid, simple, convenient, sensitive, in situ and inexpensive.