ABSTMCTThe processes and phenomena causing the appearance of induction times in stripping voltammetry are analyzed. Induction times are observed experimentally at solid electrodes. Two such examples are presented for cathodic stripping voltammetry of phenylthiourea and methylthiourea at silver rotating disk electrodes in alkaline solutions. Induction times are inherent to the formation of deposits via the nucleation and growth mechanism, which is common in stripping voltammetry at solid electrodes. Numerical calculations of the deposition charge (which is directly related to the stripping peak current) as a function of the deposition time have been performed for the hemispherical model with progressive nucleation.
I;NTRODUCTIONStripping voltammetry at solid electrodes is of particular interest due to the potential application of solid electrodes as chemical sensors [I-121. The processes leading to the formation of metallic layers in anodic stripping voltammetry and sparingly soluble compounds in cathodic stripping voltammetry on bare solid electrode surfaces are more complicated than those involved in the formation of amalgams on a mercury electrode. The activity of the deposit depends on the amount of the deposited material, the substrate electrode, and specific interactions with the electrode material which determine the morphology and distribution of the deposit on the surface. The peak current obtained for a linear potential scan is proportional to the voltage scan rate and the stripping charge, which is directly related to the amount of deposit. In practice, agreement between theory and experiment is not always perfect because of various surface phenomena and the difficulty in determining the activity of the electrodeposit.Simple theory for linear scan voltammetry predicts that plots of peak current (i,) versus the concentration (C) of the analyte should be linear and have a zero intercept. Similarly, plots of i , versus the deposition time ( t d e p ) should be also linear and have a zero intercept. Such behavior is not always found, but often a zero intercept can be obtained by taking into account back-' To whom correspondence should be addressed 8 1989 VCH Publishers, Inc. ground corrections. Experimental plots of the stripping peak current versus deposition charge show very good linearity, even in cases where significant solubility of the deposited salts or adsorption processes complicate the situation. In these cases, the stripping charge associated with the stripping peak to be analyzed is always smaller than the deposition charge. The i, versus C plots usually show good linearity, but they often have a negative intercept, even after background correction. In such cases, the plots of i, versus tdrp exhibit some curvature in the region of very short deposition times.An anomalous negative intercept has been recently reported for calibration curves, i, versus C plots, for stripping voltammetry at solid electrodes [ 13, 141. Various phenomena, singly or jointly, that can cause nonlinear calibration (ip ver...