Determination of trace selenium by differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry at a bismuth film electrode

The differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetric behavior of selenium (IV)–p-aminobenzene sulfonic acid–cetyltrimethylammonium bromide system at a bismuth-coated glassy carbon electrode (BiFE) has been investigated. A well-defined and sensitive stripping peak of the selenium (IV)–p-aminobenzene sulfonic acid complex was observed at −0.76 V (vs. SCE) in a 0.15 mol/L acetate solution (pH 2.9) at a deposition potential of −0.40 V (for 120 s). The linear range was 2–30 μg/L and the detection limit for an accumulation time of 300 s was 0.1 μg/L. This method was applied to determine the trace amount of selenium in the samples.