Antimony- based electrodes for analytical determinations

• Sb-based electrodes are proposed as an alternative to Bi-based electrodes.
• The carbon substrate is the preferred support for the Sb film formation.
• SbFEs are largely used for the determination of heavy metal ions.

This review summarizes analytical determinations carried out using antimony film electrodes (SbFEs), an environmentally safe option that constitutes an alternative not only to the most conventional Hg-based electrodes but also to Bi-based electrodes. SbFEs offer some interesting characteristics such as favorably negative overvoltage of hydrogen evolution, wide operational potential window, convenient operation in acidic solutions of pH 2 or lower and a very small Sb stripping signal. The substrate on which the Sb was plated is used to classify the types of SbFEs. Moreover, we detail the method of coating the substrate with Sb as well as the Sb modifiers. We present tables with the most important information from the accessible literature.