Review—Voltammetric Determination of Heavy Metals with Carbon-Based Electrodes

Determination of heavy metals is still a relevant pursuit due to the ongoing incidents of contamination and continuous anthropogenic and industrial activities. Spectrometric methods such as atomic absorption are the most common approaches to this task because of the high accuracy and sensitivity they provide. Nevertheless, these methods are costly, time-consuming, and do not allow for on-site measurements. Considering recent developments in electrochemistry, especially voltammetric methods, conducting trace-level heavy metal analysis has become easier, faster, and cheaper. Utilizing a carbon-based electrode (CBE) for this purpose seems to further improve the performance of the above-mentioned methods. CBEs are versatile, offer a wide potential window, and possess desirable conductive and surface properties that allow sensitive determination of analytes. This review aims to examine the recent studies published between 2015 and 2020 which investigated the performance of carbon-based electrodes in heavy metal determination, by placing the four most common carbon electrodes to the center: glassy carbon electrode, graphite electrode, carbon paste electrode, and screen-printed carbon electrode.