Determination of bismuth, indium and lead in geological samples by electrothermal AAS Part 2. Comparative study of palladium and molybdenum containing chemical modifiers*

A comparative and systematic study has been carried out of the effects of palladium and molybdenum containing chemical modifiers, such as Pd + Rh, Pd + Pt, Pd + Ru, Pd + Rh + Pt, Pd + Rh + Ru, Mo + Pd, Mo + Rh, Mo + Ru and Mo + Pt and additionally tartaric acid (TA) as a reducing agent together with mixed modifiers for the thermal stabilization of Bi, In and Pb in a Zeeman electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometer (ETAAS). The effect of the mass ratios of the mixed modifier components on the maximum pretreatment temperature for the analytes has been determined. The modifier mixtures of Pd + Rh + Pt, Mo + Pd + TA and Mo + Pt + TA were found to be especially powerful for the determination of Bi, In and Pb. These mixed modifiers could increase the ashing temperatures of the analytes up to 1250–1400° C. They were applied to the determination of Bi and Pb in dissolved geological reference samples and accuracy and precision of the method were thereby enhanced. The percent relative error was decreased from 20.0 to 0.4 for Bi and from 10.5 to 0.3 for Pb, depending on the sample type. Received: 9 May 1997 / Revised: 19 August 1997 / Accepted: 20 August 1997