Electrochemical Determination of Ag(I) and Cu (II) Using Activated Carbon Paste Electrodes

An electroanalytical method for Cu (II) and Ag (I) quantification is described. The determination was performed by cyclic voltammetry on a supporting electrolyte with a previous step of cations accumulation by electrodeposition at constant potential. Linear dependence between the anodic current peaks and the bulk concentration of both cations were obtained: the concentration ranging from 5.0 × 10−8 M to 2.0 × 10−5 M for copper and from 5.0 × 10−9 M to 4.0 × 10−5 M for silver. No interferences of Zn (II), Mn (II), Cr (III), Pb (II) and Ni (II) were observed. The method here proposed offers a reliable, sensitive and practical way to determine copper and silver.