Direct atomic absorption determination of cadmium and lead in strongly interfering matrices by double vaporization with a two-step electrothermal atomizer

Thermal pretreatment of a sample using double vaporization in a two-step atomizer with a purged vaporizer makes possible the direct analysis of samples with strongly interfering matrices including solids. A porous-graphite capsule or a filter inserted into the vaporizer is used for solid sample analysis. The technique was used for the direct determination of Cd and Pb in human urine, potatoes, wheat, bovine liver, milk powder, grass–cereal mixtures, caprolactam, bituminous-shale and polyvinyl chloride plastic without chemical modification or any other sample pretreatment.     

Reduction of matrix interference during the atomic absorption determination of lead and cadmium in strongly interfering matrix samples using a two-step atomizer with vaporizer purging

Analytical possibilities of a two-step atomizer with an argon purged vaporizer have been investigated from the point of view of the strong matrix interfering samples analysis. Compared with other atomizers, this device provides the best relative sensitivity and minimal background and chemical interference values. With this system determination of Cd and Pb in 10-fold diluted sea water and in highly concentrated solutions of different salts is possible using a D₂ corrector even without matrix modifiers.     

A Thermo-Chemical Reactor for analytical atomic spectrometry

A novel atomization/vaporization system for analytical atomic spectrometry is developed. It consists of two electrically and thermally separated parts that can be heated separately. Unlike conventional electrothermal atomizers in which atomization occurs immediately above the vaporization site and at the same instant of time, the proposed system allows analyte atomization via an intermediate stage of fractional condensation as a two stage process: Vaporization → Condensation → Atomization. The condensation step is selective since vaporized matrix constituents are mainly non-condensable gases and leave the system by diffusion while analyte species are trapped on the cold surface of a condenser. This kind of sample distillation keeps all the advantages of traditional electrothermal atomization and allows significant reduction of matrix interferences. Integration into one design a vaporizer, condenser and atomizer gives much more flexibility for in situ sample treatment and thus the system is called a Thermo-Chemical Reactor (TCR).     

Atomic absorption determination of cadmium,lead, and mercury in sea and river suspensions using an electrothermal atomizer with two vaporization zones

It is shown that suspended forms of Cd, Pb, and Hg can be simultaneously determined in river and sea waters by direct atomic absorption spectrometry with two independent stages of the fractional evaporation of solid suspensions (at <1000°C and >1500°C) in the system crucible (vaporizer)-core (collector). An electrothermal atomizer core-cell-core with two vaporization zones and an independently heated common analytical zone is proposed for analyzing condensates. The approach ensures the determination of cadmium and lead at the level below the clarke values for suspended substances and mercury in the range of average-increased concentrations.     

ETV-ICP-AES联用技术的蒸发器研究

ETV-ICP-AES是样品电热气化/电感耦合等离子体激发的联用技术^[1～7],具有进样效率高并可进行微升级样品分析的特点.ETV-ICP-AES多采用石墨炉或石墨棒蒸发器.因此,蒸发器的结构、形状、升温速率以及温度分布等对分析信号有很大的影响^[3,4].本文研究了蒸发器的接口、形状、结构的影响;自行设计了插入式平台,减小死体积,还研究了在载气单向连续流动的情况下,石墨炉内部温度的大致分布,讨论了平台蒸发和管壁蒸发.     

Dynamics of the Spatial Distribution of Atomic and Molecular Absorbing Layers in the Electrothermal Vaporization and Electrostatic Precipitation of an Analyte in an Atomizer

An experimental device was described for atomic absorption analysis with the electrothermal vaporization of the initial sample followed by the condensation of vaporization products and the electrostatic precipitation of the resulting aerosol in the secondary atomizer. Working conditions ensuring the maximum transfer of the sample to the atomizer were determined. The dynamics of the spatial distribution of the absorbing atomic and molecular layers was studied for atomization in a graphite furnace after the direct sample injection and electrostatic precipitation. The contribution of some physicochemical processes to the formation of the structure of cadmium atomic layers was assessed for different methods of sample injection into the atomizer. It was shown that an additional vaporization–condensation step significantly decreases the level of nonselective absorption and smoothes its gradients.     

Evaluation of tungsten coil electrothermal vaporization-Ar/H2 flame atomic fluorescence spectrometry for determination of eight traditional hydride-forming elements and cadmium without chemical vapor generation

A tungsten coil electrothermal vaporizer (W-coil ETV) was coupled to an Ar/H(2) flame atomic fluorescence spectrometer for the determination of eight traditional hydride-forming elements (i.e., As, Bi, Ge, Pb, Sb, Se, Sn, and Te) as well as cadmium without chemical vapor generation. A small sample volume, typically 20muL, was manually pipetted onto the W-coil and followed by a fixed electric heating program. During the vaporization step, analyte was vaporized off the coil surface and swept into the quartz tube atomizer of AFS for further atomization and excitation of atomic fluorescence by a flow of Ar/H(2) gas, which was ignited to produce the Ar/H(2) flame. The tungsten coil electrothermal vaporizer and Ar/H(2) flame formed a tandem atomizer to produce reliable atomic fluorescence signals. Under the optimal instrumental conditions, limits of detection (LODs) were found to be better than those by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) or inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) for all the nine elements investigated. The absolute LODs are better or equivalent to those by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS). Possible scattering interferences were studied and preliminary application of the proposed method was also reported.     

Electrochemical generation of mercury cold vapor and its in-situ trapping in gold-covered graphite tube atomizers

The combination of more efficient flow-through electrochemical mercury cold vapor generation with its in-situ trapping in a graphite tube atomizer is described. This coupled technique has been optimized to attain the maximum sensitivity for Hg determination and to minimize the limits of detection and determination. A laboratory constructed thin-layer flow-through cell with a platinum cathode served as the cold vapor generator. Various cathode arrangements with different active surface areas were tested. Automated sampling equipment for the graphite atomizer with an untreated fused silica capillary was used for the introduction of the mercury vapor. The inner surface of the graphite tube was covered with a gold foil placed against the sampling hole.     

直接进样电热蒸发-原子荧光光谱法快速测定蒸馏酒中镉

为了快速低成本测定蒸馏酒中痕量重金属镉,利用钨丝电热蒸发器作为直接进样装置,与原子荧光光谱仪原子化器直接连接,构建了用于蒸馏酒中镉测定的直接进样原子荧光光谱检测系统(W-coil ETV-AFS),并对工作气体的气氛和流速、灰化和蒸发电压、样品承载量等参数进行了优化,建立了蒸馏酒中镉的直接进样快速检测方法。在最优条件下,Cd的检出限(LOD)为0.06μg/L(进样量为50μL),在0.5~100μg/L线性范围内回归系数(R²)为0.997;在5μg/L水平下,9个典型蒸馏酒样品的加标回收率在86.0%~116%,相对标准偏差RSD≤8.0%(n=3)。可以直接导入样品,无需复杂的前处理过程,具有良好的灵敏度、准确度和精密度,非常适合蒸馏酒中痕量镉的快速测定。     

Comparative Study of the Effect of Sample Matrix on the Atomic Absorption of High-Volatile Elements in Two-Step and Conventional Atomizers

The space–time dynamics of absorbing atomic layers of cadmium and lead and molecular layers of zinc chloride in a commercially produced transverse-heated graphite atomizer and a newly developed two-step atomizer was studied. It was shown that the limiting temperature of cadmium pyrolysis in the two-step atomizer without the use of modifiers may be as high as 1000°C, whereas in the commercial analyzer is it not higher than 300°C. Levels of nonselective absorption due to sodium chloride were compared. It was found that, for a two-step atomizer, the maximum allowable mass of sodium chloride for which the background at lead and cadmium lines can be adequately compensated is 17–30 times higher than that for the commercial atomizer. The atomization of cadmium in the presence of sodium chloride was studied using time, space, and spectral resolution. It was shown that the effect of the chloride matrix in the two-step atomizer is suppressed because of sample fractionation and distillation in the course of its evaporation and condensation.     

Rapid Determination of Mercury in Water by Stripping Voltammetry at a Gold-Modified Carbon Electrode

A procedure was developed for determining mercury in natural water by stripping voltammetry on a gold-modified carbon electrode. The concentration dependence of the anodic stripping current of mercury is linear in the range 0.02–5 g/L Hg(II). The interference of Fe(III), Cu(II), Cl^–, Br^–, I^–, and F^– ions with the determination of mercury was studied. Ozonation was used for rapid sample preparation. The detection limit for mercury was 0.02 g/L at an electrolysis time of 5 min.     

Sensitive Method for Trace Determination of Mercury in Wines Using Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

An accurate, simple and precise method for total mercury determination in wines is described. Liquid/liquid extraction of inorganic and organic mercury species directly from untreated wine samples is recommended as a preconcentration procedure prior to determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS). Ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate was used as complexation agent. The optimal instrumental parameters for ETAAS measurement of mercury species extracted are proposed. The detection limit for total mercury determination is 0.2µgL^–1. The relative standard deviation is 15–22% for mercury in wine in the range of 0.2–5µgL^–1. The proposed procedure has been successfully applied to the determination of mercury in bottled wines in Bulgaria and Macedonia.     

Determination of vanadium and titanium in steel by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry with modified use of a tungsten boat furnace atomizer for atomic absorption spectrometry

For electrothermal sample introduction, a commercially available tungsten boat atomizer for atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) was transferred to a vaporizer for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The modification retained as much of the original design of the atomizer as possible, so that the apparatus could be switched easily between conventional tungsten boat furnace (TBF)-AAS and TBF-ICP-AES. By using this system, a procedure for the determination of vanadium and titanium in steel was investigated. The detection limits (S/N=3) of vanadium and titanium were 3.9 and 1.5 ng ml^?1, respectively. The relative standard deviations for five replicate determinations were ca. 3% for both elements. The calibration graphs were linear up to 100 μg ml^?1 vanadium(V) and 10 μg ml^?1 titanium(IV). Results of analyses of some low-alloy steel samples are given.     

Efficiency of sample introduction into inductively coupled plasma by graphite furnace electrothermal vaporization

A laboratory constructed graphite furnace electrothermal vaporizer (GF-ETV) was used for studying transport efficiencies. This device enables collection of the vaporization products that exit the central sampling hole of the horizontal graphite tube. For determination of the transport efficiency between the GF-ETV and the ICP-torch three methods were tested: (1) deposition of the aerosol particles and the vapour of certain elements by mixing the vaporization product with supersaturated steam and subsequent condensation (direct method); (2) dissolution of the deposited sample fraction from the interface components (indirect method); and (3) calculation from line intensities when applying GF-ETV and pneumatic nebulization sample introduction methods using mercury as a reference element. The latter, `mercury reference method' required 100% transport efficiency for mercury with the ETV, which could be approximated with the use of argon as carrier gas (without halocarbon addition). With a 200 cm³/min flow rate of internal argon in the graphite tube, the transport efficiency was between 67 and 76% for medium volatility elements (Cu, Mn and Mg) and between 32 and 38% for volatile elements (Cd and Zn). By adding carbon tetrachloride vapour to the internal argon flow, the transport efficiency increased to 67–73% for the five elements studied.     

A macrokinetic theory of sample vaporization in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A macrokinetic theory of the vaporization of a substance based on a consideration of the discrete distribution of a sample and of surface diffusion in the condensed phase has been developed. An analysis of mathematical models describing the vaporization process for the cases of a sample distributed in a porous bulk and over the vaporizer surface revealed several regions. The vaporization rate in these regions depends in different ways on the vaporization rate constant and the diffusion coefficient of the sample in the condensed phase. This offers an opportunity of explaining the appearance of breaks and inflections in the Arrhenius plots as well as of finding the relationship between the activation energies of vaporization in the different regions. The theoretical conclusions are in good agreement with the available and recently obtained data. The macrokinetic theory provided a better understanding of the mechanism of atomization for many elements in the graphite furnace. The macrokinetic theory offers an explanation for many aspects of electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry associated with the effects of the furnace material and the wall structure, as well as of sample distribution in the furnace on the process of vaporization and, in particular, on the signal shape, sensitivity and matrix interferences.     

Behaviour of chromium in the graphite furnace during the performance of the flameless absorption spectrometry

Summary An automated continuous monitoring method for total mercury at sub-ppb level based on cold vapor atomic-absorption-continuous micro flow analysis is developed. The method uses continuous micro flow sample partial digestion, reduction and extraction in small bore tubes at low flow rates of reagents. Tin(II) chloride in sodium hydroxide solution was used as a reducing reagent. A mixed solution of potassium peroxodisulphate and copper(II) ion was used as oxidizing and catalytic reagent, respectively. The method was successfully applied to the completely continuous monitoring of total mercury in both wastewater and saline water without a heating digestion bath.

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Kontinuierliche Mikromethode zur Durchflußüberwachung von Gesamtquecksilber im Sub-ppb-Bereich in Abwasser und anderen Wässern mit Hilfe der Kaltdampf-AAS

     

Direct determination of mercury in solid algal cells by direct-current argon-plasma emission spectrometry with sample introduction by electrothermal vaporization

A study on the use of electrothermal vaporization for introduction of solid samples into a direct-current plasma is presented. The solid samples investigated were milligram masses of an alga exposed to various mercury solutions. The results are independent of the algal mass in the 0.6–9 mg range, and give acceptable calibration curves up to 20 mg of mercury absorbed on 5-mg masses of the alga; the relative standard deviation was 7.4% for nine successive samples of 100g of mercury absorbed by a mass of approximately 3 mg of algal cells. Various mercury compounds gave more than one peak, with different appearance times. Addition of sulphur-containing algal cells or cysteine modified the mercury signal, making it the same (for the compounds tested) irrespective of the mercury compound originally present.     

A Test Method for the Determination of Mercury(I, II) on a Polymer Surface

It was found that mercury(I, II) reacts with 5-chloro-2-hydroxy-3-[(tetrahydro-2,4-dithioxo-1,3-thiazin-5-yl)azo]benzenesulphonic acid (tyrodine) in weakly acid solutions in the presence of acetates, formates, and some organic solvents (ethanol and acetone) to give an intensely colored insoluble compound (_max = 600 nm, > 3 × 10⁴). The composition of the solution affected the sensitivity of the color reaction between mercury and tyrodine. A test procedure was developed for the determination of mercury(I, II) on the surface of a polycaproamide membrane with a detection limit of <50 ng in the adsorbent zone. The procedure involves the quantitative and selective adsorption of the mercury complex of tyrodine on the support surface from 0.5 M acetate solutions of pH 3–4 in the dynamic mode; the sample volume was 5–25 mL. Mercury was then determined by the change in the support color using a color scale or by the change in diffuse reflectance at 600 nm. The adsorption of the mercury complex was accompanied by an abrupt change in the color of the support surface from pale crimson (reagent) to stable blue-violet. The test procedure was used in the analysis of an industrial sample of complex composition with a mercury concentration of lower than 0.05%. The determination error (relative standard deviation) was 20%.     

Design considerations regarding an atomizer for multi-element electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

The methodology of simultaneous multi-element electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS-Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) stipulates rigid requirements to the design and operation of the atomizer. It must provide high degree of atomization for the group of analytes, invariant respective to the vaporization kinetics and heating ramp residence time of atoms in the absorption volume and absence of memory effects from major sample components. For the low resolution spectrometer with a continuum radiation source the reduced compared to traditional ETAAS (Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) sensitivity should be, at least partially, compensated by creating high density of atomic vapor in the absorption pulse. The sought-for characteristics were obtained for the 18 mm in length and 2.5 mm in internal diameter longitudinally heated graphite tube atomizer furnished with 2-4.5 mg of ring shaped carbon fiber yarn collector. The collector located next to the sampling port provides large substrate area that helps to keep the sample and its residue in the central part of the tube after drying. The collector also provides a “platform” effect that delays the vaporization and stipulates vapor release into absorption volume having already stabilized gas temperature. Due to the shape of external surface of the tube, presence of collector and rapid (about 10 °C/ms) heating, an inverse temperature distribution along the tube is attained at the beginnings of the atomization and cleaning steps. The effect is employed for cleaning of the atomizer using the set of short maximum power heating pulses. Preparation, optimal maintenance of the atomizer and its compliance to the multi-element determination requirements are evaluated and discussed. The experimental setup provides direct simultaneous determination of large group of element within 3-4 order concentration range. Limits of detection are close to those for sequential single element determination in Flame AAS with primary line source that is 50-1000 times higher than the limits obtainable with common ETAAS (Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry) instrumentation.