A direct analysis of nanomolar metal ions in environmental water samples with Nafion-coated microelectrodes

Square Wave Anodic Stripping Voltammetry (SWASV) was combined with microfabricated microelectrodes to analyze metal ions in aqueous solution and showed excellent performance such as short analysis time about 1 min per experiment, simultaneous detection of several ions and very low detection limit as low as several nanomoles per liter (i.e. sub-ppb in mass) without any of supporting electrolyte and stirring during analysis. Nafion, a famous ion-exchanging polymer, was introduced to protect the electrode surface from obstructing materials. The Nafion-coated microelectrode was free from disturbing impurities and was capable of analyzing natural water samples directly. Results from the direct water analysis showed similar performance to those from pre-treated samples in both sensitivity and analysis time. To secure the reproducibility of Nafion-coated electrode, a simple electrochemical cleaning method with potential sweep was used and the electrode remained reliable to continued experiments. Nafion-coated microelectrodes were further examined via the comparison with ICP-MS data.