Conductive nitrogen-doped tetrahedral amorphous carbon (ta-C:N) thin films fabricated with a filtered cathodic vacuum arc technique were investigated for their ability to detect multiple trace heavy metals such as mercury, copper and lead by linear sweep anodic stripping voltammetry in sodium chloride aqueous solutions. The ta-C:N film electrodes exhibited a significant stripping response for determination of individual elements (Pb(2+) and Hg(2+)) and multiple elements (Pb(2+) + Hg(2+) and Cu(2+) + Hg(2+)), indicating that these electrodes have a great potential for simultaneously tracing multiple heavy metals in aqueous solutions. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.