Stability of mercury film electrodes under the influence of high frequency(500 kHz) ultrasound

The analytical utility of coupling high frequency ultrasound (500 kHz) syst ems with electrochemical stripping techniques has been investigated. The st ability of mercury film electrodes (on either glassy carbon or iridium subs trates) under various ultrasound regimes was assessed with cavitational ero sion found to occur irrespective of the substrate or position within the ce ll assembly. Removal of dissolved gas was found to increase the lifetime of the mercury film but only through sacrificing enhancements in mass transpo rt. A second series of experiments investigated the influence of ultrasound frequency (20 and 500 kHz) on the stripping voltammetric determination of lead and cadmium at bare glassy carbon electrodes. The results were compare d with silent conditions with the high frequency system shown to significan tly enhance the accumulation of the target analyte.