Sodium polyacrylate as a binding agent in diffusive gradients in thin-films technique for the measurement of Cu2+ and Cd2+ in waters

An aqueous solution containing sodium polyacrylate (PA, 0.0030 M) was used in diffusive gradients in thin-films technique (DGT) to measure DGT-labile Cu2+ and Cd2+ concentrations. The DGT devices (PA DGT) were validated in four types of solutions, including synthetic river waters containing metal ions with or without complexing EDTA, natural river water (Hun River, Shenyang, China) spiked with Cu2+ and Cd2+, and an industrial wastewater (Shenyang, China). Results showed that only free metal ions were measured by PA DGT, recovery = 98.79% for Cu2+ and recovery = 97.80% for Cd2+ in solutions containing only free metal ions, recovery = 51.02% for Cu2+ and recovery = 51.92% for Cd2+ in solution with metal/EDTA molar ratio of 2:1 and recovery = 0 in solutions with metal/EDTA molar ratio of 1:1 and 1:2. These indicated that the complexes of Cu–EDTA and Cd–EDTA were DGT-inert or not DGT-labile. The DGT performance in spiked river water (recovery = 8.47% for Cu2+ and recovery = 27.48% for Cd2+) and in industrial wastewater (recovery = 14.16% for Cd2+) were also investigated. Conditional stability constants (log K) of PA–Cu and PA–Cd complexes were determined as 6.98 and 5.61, respectively, indicating strong interaction between PA and the metals.