| dc.description.abstract | Environmental pollution is a major threat to all life, which needs to be addressed. Heavy metals are well-known environmental pollutants due to their toxicity and, persistence in the environment toxicity for living organisms and having a bioaccumulative nature.
Environmentally, the most common hazardous heavy metals are: Cr, Ni, Cu, Zn, Cd, Pb, Hg, and As. Remediation using conventional physical and chemical methods is uneconomical and generates waste chemicals in large quantities.
This study focuses on the extraction and determination of heavy metals (Nickel, Copper and Cobalt) by chelating Schiff base ligands of the type [O,N,N,O] with these metal ions. Two Schiff base ligands [N,N’-ethylenebis(salicylimine)] (Salen) and ligand [1,3-bis(salicylideneamino)-2-propanol] (Sal-DAP) were synthesized and characterised using FTIR, 1H and 13C NMR spectrometry and GC-MS techniques. Electrochemical detection of heavy metal ions in this work was achieved via ligand-metal complexation via two approaches. The in-situ method in which the metal and ligands were added to the electrochemical cell and stirred to allow complexation to occur and monitored by square wave voltammetry. While the ex-situ approach involved modifying the electrode surface by depositing a thin film of Schiff base on the electrode surface and immersed into a heavy metal solution to allow the complexation. Three modified GCE were used viz. Salen coated GCE, reduced graphene oxide-Salen coated GCE and a nafion-Salen coated GCE. The two approaches used for the electrochemical detection were successful and effective. The ex-situ approach was selected for the modification of the electrode surface since it demonstrated a higher capacity for heavy metal ion extraction. | en_US |
