Novel Electrochemically Treated Graphite Pencil Electrode Surfaces for the Determination of Trace α-Naphthol in Water Samples

An electrochemically treated graphite pencil electrode (PGPE) has been simply prepared for trace level determination of alpha-naphthol. The pretreatment of GPE surfaces is conducted in 0.8 M NaOH by cycling the potential between +1.3 and +1.9 V for 50 CV segments at a scan rate of 100m Vs(-1). The influence of the pretreatment is studied extensively, and optimum conditions are obtained. Linear sweep anodic stripping voltammetry (LSASV) is used for the determination of alpha-naphthol. Based on the constructed calibration curve, a linear range of 0.01 mu M to 2.0 mu M with a detection limit of 1.5 nM (S/N = 3) is obtained. The results reveal that the electrochemical treatment of the GPE surface improves its electrochemical catalytic activity with reference to surfaces of the non-treated GPE. The present method is applied for the determination of trace alpha-naphthol in real water samples.