The standard method postulated by DIN 38406 Part 16 describes the determination of Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, Tl, Ni, and Co in drinking, ground, surface and precipitation (e.g. rain) water. Because the presence of organic substances in the water samples can strongly interfere with the voltammetric determination, a pretreatment with UV digestion using hydrogen peroxide is necessary. This digestion ensures the elimination of all organic substances without introduction of blank values. These methods can, of course, also be applied for trace analysis in other materials, e.g. trace analysis in the production of semiconductor chips based on silicon. Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu, and Tl are determined on the HMDE by means of anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV), Ni and Co by means of adsorptive stripping voltammetry (AdSV).
