The electrochemical behavior of o-cresol and p-cresol was investigated using boron doped diamond (BDD) and sp(2) carbon-based electrodes. BDD electrodes with different boron doping levels were used to optimize conditions for detection of cresols using differential pulse and square-wave voltammetry.
Comparable detection limits from 2.74 µM to 0.79 µM were achieved, usingin-situanodic pretreatment to prevent fouling of electrode surface. Lower detection limits for cresols and other phenolic pollutants, in the 10(-7) M concentration range, were obtained using amperometric detection in HPLC.
The proposed voltammetric and HPLC methods were utilized for determination of cresols in model river water samples.