Electrooxidation of Thiourea and Its Square-Wave Voltammetric Determination Using Pencil Graphite Electrode

Abstract

The electrochemical properties of thiourea (TU) were investigated in pH range 2.0-12.0 by cyclic and square-wave voltammetry. The compound was irreversibly oxidized at a pencil graphite electrode in one or two oxidation steps which are pH-dependent. Based on the voltammetric peak for the second oxidation process of TU in phosphate buffer at pH 12.0, a square-wave voltammetric method was proposed for the determination of the compound in the range 6.3-30 mu m, with a detection limit of 1.29 mu m. The applicability to direct assays of wastewaters was also tested.