A CRITICAL REVIEW OF ELECTROANALYTICAL METHODS FOR NOBLE METALS

This review deals with the published electroanalytical methods of polarography, coulometry, amperometry, potentiometry and electrogravimetry. For polarography, the period covered is subsequent to June 1958. For potentiometry, the reports included are in general those published after a previous review on titrimetric methods. The remaining electroanalytical methods for the noble metals have only recently received significant attention; the review of these methods, as well as the others, covers the chemical abstracts up to January 1968. During the past decade polarographic methods have taken an important place in industrial laboratories dealing with noble metals; such methods remain largely confined to simple systems although there has occasionally been some integration with other analytical techniques to allow application to complex noble metal systems. Coulometry and amperometry seem to find little application in laboratories concerned with determination of noble metals, possibly because of a lack of analytical emphasis in the reported researches. The review should make clear the paucity of industrial interest in electrogravimetric methods. © 1969.