Simultaneous determination of trace amounts of cadmium, nickel and cobalt in water samples by adsorptive voltammetry using ammonium 2-amino-cyclopentene dithiocarboxylate as a chelating agent

This paper reports the use of an adsorptive voltammetric technique for the simultaneous detection of Cd(II), Ni(II) and Co(II) using ammonium 2-amino-cyclopente dithiocarboxylate as a selective complexing agent. Scans containing three resolved peaks corresponding to these metals were obtained in synthetic and real samples. The reduction current peaks of the metals that were distinctly separated by 200 mV or more, allowing their determination over a wide range of concentrations. These metals can be quantified at concentrations above 1.33×10−8 mol dm−3 Cd(II), 8.51×10−9 mol dm−3 Ni(II) and 3.39×10−10 mol dm−3 Co(II). The influence of pH, ligand concentration, scan rate, accumulations time and applied potential was investigated. The R.S.D. at a concentration level of 1.78×10−7 mol dm−3 of Cd(II), 3.40×10−7 mol dm−3 and Ni(II) and 1.7×10−9 mol dm−3 of Co(II) was 2.5% for Cd(II), 2.7% for Ni(II) and 3.3% for Co(II). The method was applied to various water samples.