The spontaneous deposition of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions on a hydrogen-saturated platinum surface as a possibility for the substoichiometric sampling of copper is shown. A sensitive isotope dilution method has been developed for the determination of traces of copper in high purity zinc making use of the spontaneous deposition of microquantities of Cu2+ from aqueous solutions of zinc salts on a cathodically polarized platinum surface. If the same platinum surface is used in each run, the saturation values of the deposited copper are practically independent of the concentrations and contents of copper and zinc in the solution. The copper traces were labelled with the product of the64Zn(n,p)64Cu nuclear reaction. A copper content of 0.18±0.03 ppm in zinc was determined by this method.