ELECTROANALYSIS OF PERACETIC ACID IN THE PRESENCE OF A LARGE EXCESS OF HYDROGEN PEROXIDE

The simultaneous electroanalysis of peracetic acid (PAA) and H2O2 in the presence of a large excess of H2O2, up to hundred times the concentrations of PAA, has been presented for the first time. Square wave voltammetry using a gold electrode was successfully applied for this purpose. It was found that a careful electrochemical pretreatment of the gold electrode is the key for obtaining reproducible data. Good calibration curves for the reduction of both species were obtained with correlation coefficients higher than 0.996. The detection limit for PAA was found to be 45 µM.