Development of a computerized electrochemical system for stripping voltammetry

Abstract

A computer‐controlled electrochemical system has been developed to determine heavy metal using stripping voltammetry. The system consists of a potentiostat (which we have designed and developed), a polarographic static mercury electrode (303A, PAR), an analog‐digital conversion board (DT2801‐A), a personal computer, and an HP7440 plotter. The potentiostat runs between −2.0 to +2.0 V with multirange current selection between ±50 nA and ±100 μA. There are various outlet channels with different time constants and noise levels. The fastest channel can detect processes on the order of 200 μs with a noise level of ±2.0 nA, while for 30 ms processes the noise is ±100 pA. The software developed controls the sequences of potentials, acquires and stores the currents, and plots them at its convenience. The system has been tested successfully in the determination of different metals using anodic and cathodic stripping voltammetry with different types of waveforms.