Electrochemical Oxidation and Determination of Oxalic Acid at an Exfoliated Graphite-Polystyrene Composite Electrode

Abstract

An exfoliated graphite-polystyrene composite electrode was evaluated as analternative electrode in the oxidation and the determination of oxalic acid in 0.1 M Na2SO4supporting electrolyte. Using CV, LSV, CA procedures, linear dependences I vs. C wereobtained in the concentrations range of oxalic acid between 0.5 to 3 mM, with LOD =0.05mM, and recovery degree of 98%, without need of surface renewing between successiveruns. The accuracy of the methods was evaluated as excellent comparing the detection resultswith that obtained using conventional KMnO4 titration method. In addition, the apparentdiffusion coefficient of oxalic acid D was found to be around 2.89 · 10-8 cm2·s-1 by CA andCV.

Keywords

• exfoliated graphite-polystyrene composite electrode
• oxalic acid
• electrochemical oxidation
• electrochemical determination