Simultaneous Detection of Heavy Metals by Anodic Stripping Voltammetry Using Carbon Nanotube Thread

Carbon nanotube (CNT) threads are a type of CNT arrays that consist of super long CNTs. CNT threads inherit the advantages of CNTs, while avoiding the potential toxicity caused by individual CNTs. Electrodes based on CNT threads were fabricated and used for simultaneous detection of trace levels of Cu2+, Pb2+ Cd2+ and Zn2+ by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The detection limits are 0.27nM, 1.5nM, 1.9nM and 1.4nM for Cu-2+,Cu- Pb2+, Cd2+ and Zn2+, respectively, in 0.1M acetate buffer pH4.5. The CNT thread electrode gives well-defined, reproducible and sharp stripping signals for individual and simultaneous detection of heavy metals.