Single-walled carbon nanotube (SWCNT) modified gold (Au) electrode for simultaneous determination of plutonium and uranium

A single-walled carbon nanotube-modified-Au electrode (SWCNT-Au) was employed for the simultaneous determination of Plutonium (Pu) and Uranium (U). The SWCNT-Au displayed excellent electrochemical catalytic activities towards Pu and U reduction compared to bare Au. In the differential pulse voltammetry technique (DPV), both Pu and U gave sensitive reduction peaks at 564 mV and -128 mV, respectively, versus a saturated Ag/AgCl electrode. Under the optimized experimental conditions, Pu and U gave linear responses over ranges of 10 to 100 mu M (R-2 = 0.990) and 3 to 10 mu M (R-2 = 0.987), respectively. The detection limits were found to be 8.2 mu M for Pu and 2.4 mu M for U.