Direct determination of bismuth, indium and lead in sea water by Zeeman ETAAS using molybdenum containing chemical modifiers

Direct determination of Bi, In and Pb in sea water samples has been carried out by ETAAS with Zeeman background correction using molybdenum containing chemical modifiers and tartaric acid as a reducing agent. Maximum pyrolysis temperatures and the effect of mass ratios of the mixed modifier components on analytes have been investigated. Mo+Pd+TA or Mo+Pt+TA mixture was found to be powerful for the determination of 50 mug l(-1) of Bi, In and Pb spiked into synthetic and real sea waters. The accuracy and precision of the determination were thereby enhanced. The recoveries of analytes spiked were 94-103% with Mo+Pd+TA or Mo+Pt+TA and they are only 49-61% without modifier.