Electrochemical reduction of selenium on a silver electrode and its determination in river water

Abstract

A new, simple, and fast method is described for determining selenium based on a silver wire electrode flow-through voltammetric detector. A comparison was done between the sensitivity of disk silver, mercury-modified glassy carbon, and mercury-modified gold electrodes. The response of the flow-through voltammetric detector was evaluated with respect to each electrode’s operating potential and pH in direct current mode. The limit of detection (3s) for Se(IV) was below 0.01 mg/L. The flow-through system does not need deposition times and the organic matter does not need to be removed before determining selenium in river water.