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 Cu 2+ , Pb 2+ Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ by anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV). The detection limits are 0.27 nM, 1.5 nM, 1.9 nM and 1.4 nM for Cu 2+, Pb 2+ , Cd 2+ and Zn 2+ , respectively, in 0.1 M acetate buffer pH 4.5. The CNT thread electrode gives well‐defined, reproducible and sharp stripping signals for individual and simultaneous detection of heavy metals.