Microfabricated Au-Film Sensors for the Voltammetric Determination of Hg(II)

Abstract

In this work, a microfabricated Au-film sensor was designed and fabricated for thevoltammmetric determination of Hg(II). The electrode was fabricated on a silicon chip with astandard microengineering approach utilizing photolithography for patterning the electrode shapeand sputtering for deposition of thin Cr and Au films on the surface of the sensors. The sensorswere used for the determination of trace Hg(II) with anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV): initiallyHg(II) in the sample was accumulated on the Au working electrode surface by reduction andformation of an Au(Hg) amalgam followed by oxidation of the preconcentrated metallic Hg using asquare wave voltammetric scan. The limit of detection was 1.5μgL−1 and the coefficient of variationof 10 consecutive measurements was 3.1%.

Keywords

• anodic stripping voltammetry
• Hg(II)
• microfabrication
• gold electrodes