Electrochemical behavior of lead(II) at poly(phenol red) modified glassy carbon electrode, and its trace determination by differential pulse anodic stripping voltammetry

Poly(phenol red) (denoted as PPR) films were electrochemically synthesized on the surface of a glassy carbon electrode (GCE) by cyclic voltammetry to obtain a chemically modified electrode (denoted as PPR-GCE). The growth mechanism of PPR films was studied by attenuated total reflection spectroscopy. This PPR-GCE was used to develop a novel and reliable method for the determination of trace Pb2+ by anodic stripping differential pulse voltammetry. At optimum conditions, the anodic peak exhibits a good linear concentration dependence in the range from 5.0 x 10(-9) to 5.0 x 10(-7) mol L-1 (r = 0.9989). The detection limit is 2.0 x 10(-9) mol L-1 (S/N = 3). The method was employed to determine trace levels of Pb2+ in industrial waste water samples.