Electrochemical determination of nitrite at a bare glassy carbon electrode; why chemically modify electrodes?

The oxidation of nitrite was Studied at a bare glassy carbon (GC) electrode ill aqueous Solution using cyclic voltammetry. square wave voltammetry and chronoamperometry. A mechanism for the electrode reaction is proposed. A limit of detection (LOD) of 4 x 10(-7) M was obtained for amperometry and this is evaluated with reference to literature reports for NO2- detection: in particular, the possible merits of using chemically modified electrodes as compared to 'bare' unmodified electrodes are critically assessed. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.