Employment of peak area in the determination of metals having low reversibility degree of the electrodic process

Peak area as instrumental datum for determining the concentration of metals in solution instead of peak height is proposed for analytical voltammetric determinations. In the case of species having irreversible electrodic proc esses the employment of peak area permits one to achieve lower limits of de tection, even of one order of magnitude. This work reports results relevant to two irreversible electrodic systems: cobalt(II) and nickel(II) in 0.1 M KCl. The precision and accuracy of the analytical method were checked by t he analysis of the standard reference material Fresh Water NBS-SRM 1643a. T he former, expressed as relative standard deviation (s(r)), and the latter expressed as relative error (e), were satisfactory; being in all cases less than 5%. The analytical procedure has been applied to sea- and freshwater sampled in the Po river mouth area.