Electrochemical Detection of Lead Ions with Ordered Mesoporous Silica–Modified Glassy Carbon Electrodes Nicoleta Cotolan & Liana Maria Mureşan & Andrea Salis & Lucian Barbu-Tudoran & Graziella Liana Turdean Received: 26 August 2019 /Accepted: 15 April 2020 # Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020 Abstract The development of methods for lead ion determination in various biological and environmental samples is both necessary and challenging. In this con- text, considering the properties of both SBA-15 and MCM-41 mesoporous materials and the role of NH 2 - functional groups grafted on the silica surface (SBA-15- NH 2 and MCM-41-NH 2 ), the aim of the study was to investigate the electrochemical detection of Pb 2+ by means of silica-modified glassy carbon electrodes (GCEs). The square wave anodic stripping voltammetry (SWASV) was used to characterize the modified elec- trodes with four different samples of ordered mesopo- rous silica (OMS) powders, mentioned above. Addition- ally, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to characterize these modifiers. Pb 2+ exhibits a well- defined oxidation peak (around − 0.5 V vs. Ag/AgCl/ KCl sat ) and high peak current at either bare or OMS- modified glassy carbon electrodes, but the best response was recorded in the case of GC/SBA-15-NH 2 -modified electrode in 0.1 M acetate buffer. The performance of the prepared electrodes is highlighted by good analytical parameters (satisfies the requirements of low cost and rapid results), which recommends them to be used for real sample analysis. Keywords Ordered mesoporous silica . Silica-modified glassy carbon electrodes . Square wave anodic stripping voltammetry . Lead ion detection 1 Introduction Heavy metals are environmental priority pollutants, es- pecially in developing countries with rapid industriali- zation of the economy (Chu et al. 2019). Many heavy metal ions (HMIs) are known as toxic and carcinogenic. HMIs of particular concern such as Cd 2+ (Awual et al. 2018), Cu 2+ (Cao et al. 2013), Hg 2+ (Hazra et al. 2019), Ni 2+ (Li et al. 2013), Pb 2+ (Kang et al. 2017), and their compounds are widely used in industries and, unlike organic contaminants, are not biodegradable leading to contamination of natural water, tending to accumulate in living organisms and threatening the health of human beings. It is worth mentioning that Cd 2+ , Cu 2+ , Hg 2+ , and Pb 2+ are the most common HMIs present in our daily lives. The importance of controlling the level of environmental pollutants in natural waterways and Water Air Soil Pollut (2020) 231:217 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-020-04599-7 N. Cotolan : L. M. Mureşan : G. L. Turdean (*) Department of Chemical Engineering, Faculty of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, “Babeş-Bolyai” University, 11 Arany Janos St., RO-400028 Cluj-Napoca, Romania e-mail: gturdean@chem.ubbcluj.ro A. Salis Dipartimento di Scienze Chimiche e Geologiche, Università degli Studi di Cagliari, CSGI, and CNBS, Cittadella Universitaria SS 554 bivio Sestu, Monserrato, 09042 Cagliari, Italy L. Barbu-Tudoran Faculty of Biology and Geology, “Babeş-Bolyai” University, 44 Republicii St., RO-400015 Cluj-Napoca, Romania L. Barbu-Tudoran National Institute for Research and Development of Isotopic and Molecular Technologies, 67-103 Donath St., RO-400293 Cluj-Napoca, Romania