Multi-pulse galvanostatic preparation of nanostructured bismuth film electrode for trace metal detection

Abstract The preparation of nanostructured bismuth film electrode (nsBiFE) via ex-situ multi-pulse galvanostatic deposition protocol is presented. The nsBiFE was prepared on a glassy carbon substrate electrode and studied for anodic stripping voltammetric detection of trace metal ions. Several important parameters were examined and optimized, such as the composition of plating solution, pulse deposition current, pulse duration (pulse deposition time and relaxation time) etc. The nsBiFE exhibited excellent sensitivity associated with well-defined and reproducible signals of both test analytes, i.e. Cd(II) and Pb(II), accompanied with low background contribution. It revealed good linear behaviour in the examined concentration range of 20 − 100 μg L −1 along with remarkable low limits of detection, i.e. 0.4 μg L −1 for Cd(II) and 0.1 μg L −1 for Pb(II) after 300 s accumulation, and good repeatability with RSDs of 5.1% and 3.8% for Cd(II) and Pb(II), respectively.