A Carbon Paste Composite Electrode with Mixture of Zirconium Dioxide and Titanium Dioxide to Detect Heavy Metals Studied by SEM and XPS

Our research group has developed a novel carbon paste composite electrode, in which titanium dioxide/zirconium dioxide was incorporated into graphite carbon paste, to detect cadmium and lead in aqueous solution by utilizing electrochemistry. In the current work, the newly developed titanium dioxide/zirconium dioxide carbon paste composite electrode was used to quantify lead and cadmium, individually and simultaneously, utilizing square wave anodic stripping voltammetry. Detection limits in the low ppb were achieved and the mechanism and the morphology of the electrode sensor designed were studied.  The sensor was also tested in river water and well water samples to illustrate its potential for real world application will be illustrated. Scanning electron microscopy and X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) were employed to investigate and characterize the electrode surface morphology and the mechanism will be discussed.