Preconcentration and Separation Procedures for the Spectrochemical Determination of Platinum and Palladium

Low concentrations of Pt and Pd in industrial (µgg^–1 level) and environmental samples (ngg^–1 level) together with the complexity of the matrix causing many interferences during the determination of noble metals often require elaboration and application of pre-concentration/matrix separation procedures before detection of the analyte. Different pre-concentration/matrix separation procedures applied prior to the determination of Pt and Pd by atomic spectrometric techniques are reviewed and critically compared taking into account potential interferences. The methods studied are divided into 5 groups including precipitation and coprecipitation, liquid–liquid extraction, solid phase extraction, electrochemical pre-concentration and biosorption. The main analytical problems occuring during sample preparation and storage are discussed.