Electrospun Carbon Nanofiber Modified Electrodes for
Stripping Voltammetry
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Abstract
Electrospun
polyacrylonitrile (PAN) based carbon nanofibers (CNFs)
have attracted intense attention due to their easy processing, high
carbon yield, and robust mechanical properties. In this work, a CNF
modified glassy carbon (GC) electrode that was coated with Nafion
polymer was evaluated as a new electrode material for the simultaneous
determination of trace levels of heavy metal ions by anodic stripping
voltammetry (ASV). Pb<sup>2+</sup> and Cd<sup>2+</sup> were used as
a representative system for this initial study. Well-defined stripping
voltammograms were obtained when Pb<sup>2+</sup> and Cd<sup>2+</sup> were determined individually and then simultaneously in a mixture.
Compared to a bare GC electrode, the CNF/Nafion modified GC (CNF/Nafion/GC)
electrode improved the sensitivity for lead detection by 8-fold. The
interface properties of the CNF/Nafion/GC were characterized by electrochemical
impedance spectroscopy (EIS), which showed the importance of the ratio
of CNF/Nafion on electrode performance. Under optimized conditions,
the detection limits are 0.9 and 1.5 nM for Pb<sup>2+</sup> and Cd<sup>2+</sup>, respectively