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Simultaneous voltammetric determination of cadmium(II), lead(II), mercury(II), zinc(II), and copper(II) using a glassy carbon electrode modified with magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles and fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes

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Abstract

A method is described for the simultaneous voltammetric determination of the heavy metal ions cadmium(II), lead(II), mercury(II), zinc(II), and copper(II) using a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) modified with magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles and fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes (Fe3O4/F-MWCNTs). The Fe3O4/F-MWCNT composite was synthesized by a hydrothermal method and characterized by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction, transmission electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, elemental mapping, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, and square wave stripping voltammetry. Under the optimum conditions, the electrode displays excellent response to the ions. Figures of merit for Cd(II), Pb(II), Hg(II), Zn(II), and Cu(II), respectively, include (a) high electrochemical sensitivity (29.88, 43.50, 120.86, 47.34 and 90.31 (μA μM−1 cm−2), (b) well separated peaks (at −0.70, −0.53, +0.37, −1.11 and + 0.01 V vs. Ag/AgCl); (c) low limits of detection (0.014, 0.0084, 0.0039, 0.012, and 0.0053 μM); and (d) wide linear ranges (0.048–30.0, 0.028–30.0, 0.013–32.5, 0.039–32.5, and 0.017–31.5 μM). The modified GCE displays satisfying selectivity in the presence of potentially interfering other metal ions, stability for 30 days, and reproducibility of electrodes (with a relative standard deviation between 1.2 and 4.8% for n = 6). The modified GCE was applied to the determination of several heavy metal ions in (spiked) water and rice samples, and the results agreed well with data obtained by atomic fluorescence spectrometry or inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. The dramatic performance probably result from the semi-ionic C-F bond on F-MWCNTs surface with a strong negative charge, the good electrical conductivity of the F-MWCNTs and Fe3O4, the synergistic interaction between Fe3O4 and F-MWCNTs, and the nafion conductive membrane improving the stability of the modified layer and enhanced cation adsorption.

An environmentally-friendly, low-cost, high-throughput Fe3O4/fluorinated multi-walled carbon nanotube composite (Fe3O4/F-MWCNTs) modified glassy carbon electrode is described. It was applied to simultaneous electrochemical determination of Cd(II), Pb(II), Hg(II), Zn(II), and Cu(II) by square wave stripping voltammetry

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by National Program for support of Top-notch Young Professionals, China, the ARC Future Fellowship FT160100039, and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Nanoscale BioPhotonics CE140100003 Australia.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Oil Crops Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Wenqin Wu, Mingming Jia, Zhongzheng Wang, Qi Zhang & Zhaowei Zhang

  2. National Reference Laboratory for Biotoxin Test, Wuhan, 430062, People’s Republic of China

    Wenqin Wu & Peiwu Li

  3. Key Laboratory of Biology and Genetic Improvement of Oil Crops, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Wen Zhang, Qi Zhang & Peiwu Li

  4. Key Laboratory of Detection for Mycotoxins, Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Wen Zhang, Qi Zhang & Peiwu Li

  5. Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, ARC Centre of Excellence in Nanoscale Biophotonics, Faculty of Engineering, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia

    Guozhen Liu

  6. Laboratory of Risk Assessment for Oilseeds Products (Wuhan), Ministry of Agriculture, Wuhan, 430062, China

    Peiwu Li

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  1. Wenqin Wu
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Highlights

[1] This article developed an environmentally-friendly, low-cost, and high-throughput method for the simultaneous determination of five HMIs.

[2] Fe3O4/fluorinated multi-walled carbon nanotube composite was successfully fabricated by hydrothermal method.

[3] The method exhibited high sensitivity, low limit of detection, wide linear range, and excellent agreement with typical methods.

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Wu, W., Jia, M., Wang, Z. et al. Simultaneous voltammetric determination of cadmium(II), lead(II), mercury(II), zinc(II), and copper(II) using a glassy carbon electrode modified with magnetite (Fe3O4) nanoparticles and fluorinated multiwalled carbon nanotubes. Microchim Acta 186, 97 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-3216-5

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