Disposable barrel plating nickel electrodes for use in flow injection analysis of trivalent chromium

We report a disposable barrel plating nickel electrode (Ni-BPE) coupled with a specifically designed electrochemical cell for use in flow injection analysis for the determination of trivalent chromium (CrIII). The response of the activated Ni-BPE was found very sensitive under alkaline condition with a systematic increase in current signal upon successive addition of CrIII. Under optimized conditions, the calibration curve showed a linear range up to 1 mM with a detection limit (S/N = 3) of 0.30 μM. Continuous hydrodynamic flow of 0.1 M NaOH at regular CrIII injections verify the reproducibility of the present system. The proposed method was successfully used to detect the amount of CrIII in environmental water to show its potential use in real applications.