Direct mercury determination in natural waters by chronopotentiometric stripping analysis in macroelectrode process vessel

By using a specific electrochemical cell with a rotating glassy carbon process vessel as the working electrode, a significant enhancement of mercury determination comparing to commonly used disc electrodes of glassy carbon was achieved. Detection limit obtained for electrolysis time of 600 s was 0.1 ng dm− 3 of Hg(II). The influence of the most important experimental factors of chronopotentiometric stripping analysis was investigated and the defined method was applied for mercury determination in different types of waters without any pretreatment. Methods accuracy was confirmed by analysing standard reference material. Obtained results showed that similar electrochemical systems can be proposed for continual or semicontinual monitoring of mercury content in different types of waters.