Determination of total gaseous lead in the atmosphere by honeycomb denuder/electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.

A technique is described for the determination of total gaseous lead in the atmosphere by honeycomb denuder collection, followed by an electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) measurement. The collection efficiency of the honeycomb denuder in which a solution containing 2% HNO3/2% glycerine/1% ammonium dihydrogenphosphate was coated for trapping the gaseous lead in the atmosphere was 98.8%. The linear absorbance response was obtained for a concentration range of 0-1.39 microg m(-3) of lead in the atmosphere. A precision of 4.8% RSD (peak-height absorbance, n = 11) for an aqueous solution of 1 ng of lead standard, characteristic masses (CM) of 23 pg and detection limit (3sigma) of 54 pg for an aqueous solution of 0.01 ng lead standard was achieved with 100 microg ammonium dihydrogenphosphate as a chemical modifier. The average recovery of lead in three standard samples prepared by the independent digestion of NIST SRM 1648 (Urban Particulate Matter) using our analytical system was 97.8%. The total content of the gaseous lead in the atmosphere of our laboratories was 0.35-0.38 microg m(-3).