Title: stripping voltammetry
Long Title: IUPAC Gold Book - stripping voltammetry
DOI: 10.1351/goldbook.09155
Status: current

Definition
Two-step electrochemical measurement in which 1) material is accumulated at an electrode and 2) the amount of an accumulated species is measured by voltammetry. The measured electric current in step 2 is related to the concentration of analyte in the solution by calibration.

Notes
1) Types of stripping voltammetry refer to the kind of accumulation (e.g. adsorptive stripping voltammetry) or the polarity of the stripping electrochemistry (anodic, cathodic stripping voltammetry).
2) Stripping voltammetry is a calibrated method to establish the relation between amount accumulated in a given time and the concentration of the analyte in solution.
3) Because the accumulation (pre-concentration) step can be prolonged, increasing the amount of material at the electrode, stripping voltammetry is able to measure very small concentrations of analyte.
4) Often the product of the electrochemical stripping is identical to the analyte before the accumulation.
5) Anodic stripping voltammetry (ASV) was historically used to measure concentrations of metal ions in solution using cathodic accumulation with mercury to form an amalgam. Due to the toxicity of mercury and its compounds, inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry have frequently replaced ASV at mercury electrodes in the laboratory, often sacrificing the probing of speciation and lability in complex matrices. Mercury has now been replaced by non-toxic bismuth or antimony as films on a solid electrode support (such as glassy carbon) with equally good sensitivity and detection limits.

Related Terms
- accumulation: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09150
- adsorptive stripping voltammetry: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09151
- anodic: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09152
- cathodic stripping voltammetry: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09153
- electrode: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09060
- voltammetry: https://goldbook.iupac.org//terms/view/09148

Source
- PAC, 2020, 92, 641. 'Terminology of Electrochemical Methods of Analysis (IUPAC Recommendations 2019)' on page 682 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2018-0109)

Other Outputs
- html: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09155/html
- json: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09155/json
- xml: https://goldbook.iupac.org/terms/view/09155/xml

Citation: Citation: 'stripping voltammetry' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351/goldbook.09155
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Disclaimer: The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.
Accessed: 2026-04-18T07:54:33+00:00