Ultrasound: promoting electroanalysis in difficult real world media

Abstract

This article outlines the recent progress in the field of sonoelectroanalysis with strong emphasis on ‘real world media’ analysis. General principles of stripping analysis and the effects of ultrasound are explained. A section on ‘Electroanalysis in extreme media’ presents several examples of applications including detection of copper in beer, manganese in tea, lead and cadmium in saliva. The benefits of diamond electrodes are described and in the final section ‘Metal ion detection in blood’ several novel approaches based on the use of power ultrasound and based on bismuth electrodes are discussed. Specifically it is shown that the combination of ultrasound with classical stripping voltammetry permits quantifiable measurements in media hitherto impossible to study using conventional methods.