Electrochemical characterization and determination of mercury using carbon paste electrodes modified with cyclodextrins

In this work the characterization and determination of mercury in HClO4 media using carbon paste electrodes modified with alpha- and beta-cyclodextrins (CPE alpha-CD and CPE beta-CD) at E-d = - 0.7 V with a t(d) = 20 s and a potential scan nu = 20 mV s(-1) is studied.. The statistical results obtained indicate that the modified electrodes displayed a better analytical performance as compared to that obtained with the unmodified CPE. The detection limits for the CPE alpha-CD and for the CPE beta-CD were 0.05 and 0.09 mu M, respectively, while for the CPE it was 0.41 mu M. The CPE beta-CD exhibited greater sensitivity as compared to that of the CPE alpha-CD.