ELECTROCATALYTIC DETECTION OF COBALT SEPARATED BY ION-EXCHANGE CHROMATOGRAPHY

A liquid chromatographic method is described for the detection of cobalt ion. The reaction for the detection was the electro-catalytic oxidation of tartrate eluent and a carbon working electrode with cobalt ion acting as a catalyst. The detection limit was 5 ng and the linear dynamic range was more than 103. Reproducibility at 1 ppm (sample size 0.5 mL) was 2.2% by coefficient of variance. Cerous, chromic, ferrous, ferric, manganese, lead, stannous lons were also detected by their catalytic action. The method was applied to the analysis of a boiling water reactor coolant. © 1979, American Chemical Society. All rights reserved.