An analytical procedure regarding the determination of selenium(IV) by anodic stripping voltammetry exploiting the in situ plated bismuth film electrode is described. Since organics are commonly present in untreated natural water samples, the use of Amberlite XAD-7 resin turns out to be quite important to avoid problems such as the adsorption of these compounds on the working electrode. The optimum circumstances for the detection of selenium in water using differential pulse voltammetry techniques were found to be as follows: 0.1 mol L-1 acetic acid, 1.9 × 10-5 mol L-1 Bi(III), 0.1 g Amberlite XAD-7 resin, and successive potentials of -1.6 V for 5 s and -0.4 V for 60 s, during which the in situ formation of the bismuth film on glassy carbon and the accumulation of selenium took place. The current of the anodic peak varies linearly with the selenium concentration ranging from 3 × 10-9 mol L-1 to 3 × 10-6 mol L-1 (r = 0.9995), with a detection limit of 8 × 10-10 mol L-1. The proposed procedure was used for Se(IV) determination in certified reference materials and natural water samples, and acceptable results and recoveries were obtained.
Keywords: eco-friendly detection of selenium; electrochemical measurement; environmental water sample; resin; stripping voltammetry.