Electrochemical determination of Hg (II) using carbon paste electrode modified using a new conductive polymer as receptor

The inhalation of elemental mercury vapours can cause neurological and behavioural disorders, such as tremors, emotional instability, insomnia, memory loss, neuromuscular changes and headaches. They can also harm the kidneys and thyroid. High exposures have also led to deaths. Mercury can damage human health because it is toxic to the nervous system — the brain and spinal cord — particularly the developing nervous system of a fetus or young child [1]. Polymer modified electrodes can be used to study extended charge transport phenomena or electron transfer mediation reactions. These modifiers are classified by the type of polymer. To this end, four classes are identified: redox, ion-exchange, conductive, and nonconductive [2]. Poly-rhodanine has attracted considerable attention in various application fields such as anticorrosion, antibacterial, and antihistaminic agents. In addition, they can be used for detecting or adsorbing of metal ions because the rhodanine monomeric unit has a metal binding functional groups. Polyrhodanine can be expected as a promising candidate for efficient adsorbent of heavy metal ions because it contains oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur atoms in its monomeric structure [3]. In this approach, we have synthesized and characterized nanomagnitite functionalized by poly-rhodanine. After that, the polymer has been applied for modification of carbon paste electrode. The poly-rhodanine was shown tendency to adsorb mercury ion effectively. Accumulated mercury was then determined using differential pulse voltammetry. Dynamic linear range between 5×10-4- 1×10-8 was obtained. Determination of mercury ion is demonstrated in real samples using presented method.