Synthesis of rare earth sulfides and their UV-vis absorption spectra

Rare earth sulfides were systematically synthesized via the sulfurization of their commercial oxide powders using CS2 gas to shorten sulfurization time, and their UV-vis absorption spectra were investigated. The appropriate sulfurization conditions were studied. For the rare earth sulfides with the same crystal structure, the sulfurization temperature showed increasing tendency with the decrease of rare earth element atomic radii. The UV-vis absorption spectra of rare earth sulfides did not depend on the crystal structure of rare earth sulfides, but on the 4f electronic structure of rare earth element. The data showed that the optical band gaps of rare earth sulfides were irregular, and the values ranged from 1.65 to 3.75 eV.

Determination of Ultratrace Amounts of Copper(Ⅱ) in Water Samples by Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry After Cloud Point Extraction

A novel approach was developed for the determination of ultratrace amounts of copper in water samples by using electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry （ETAAS） after cloud point extraction （ CPE ）. 1-（ 2-Pyridylazo ） -2- naphthol was used as the chelating reagent and Triton X-114 as the mieellar-forming surfactant. CPE was conducted in a pH 8. 0 medium at 40 ℃ for 10 rain. After the separation of the phases by contrifugafion, the surfactant-rieh phase was diluted with 1 mL of a methanol solution of 0. 1 mol/L HNO3. Then 20μL of the diluted surfactant-rieh phase was injected into the graphite furnace for atomization in the absence of any matrix modifier. Various experimental conditions that affect the extraction and atomization processes were optimized. A detection limit of 5 ng/L was obtained after preconeentration. The linear dynamic range of the copper mass concentration was found to be 0-2.0 ng/mL, and the relative standard deviation was found to be less than 3. 1% for a sample containing 1.0 ng/mL Cu （ Ⅱ ）. This developed method was successfully applied to the determination of uhratraee amounts of Cu in drinking water, tap water, and seawater samples.

Determination of total arsenic by photo-decomposition of organoarsenic compounds and hydride generation electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A method was developed for the determination of total arsenic concentration in less than ng/ml level by decomposition of organoarsenicals using photo -oxidation combined with in situ trapping of arsenic hydride on a palladium coated graphite tube with subsequent atomization and detection by AAS. The organoarsenicals include monomethylarsenic, dimethylarsenic, arsenobetaine, arsenocholine, o -aminobenzenarsenate and p -aminobenzenarsenate. The method is simple and sensitive. Detection limit was obtained from different arsenic compounds over the range from 0. 058 to 0.063 ng/ml as As (based on three times of the standard deviation of 10 blank measurements) and the relative standard deviations for ten replicate measurements were from 2.0 to 3.8%. The calibration curves of arsenic compounds including inorganic and organic arsenicals were linear over the range from 0.1 to 3.0 ng/ml as As. The recommended method has been applied to the determination of total arsenic in tap and lake water samples at ng/ml levels.

Application of multiwalled carbon nanotubes treated by potassium permanganate for determination of trace cadmium prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In this study we investigated the enrichment ability of oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes （MWCNTs） and established a new method for the determination of trace cadmium in environment with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The MWCNTs were oxidized by potassium permanganate under appropriate conditions before use as preconcentration packing. Parameters influencing the recoveries of target analytes were optimized. Under optimal conditions, the target analyte exhibited a good linearity （R^2=0.9992） over the concentration range 0.5-50 ng/ml. The detection limit and precision of the proposed method were 0.15 ng/ml and 2.06%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of cadmium in real-world environmental samples and the recoveries were in the range of 91.3%-108.0%. All these experimental results indicated that this new procedure could be applied to the determination of trace cadmium in environmental waters.

Determination of Trace Amounts of Nickel (Ⅱ) by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry Coupled with Cloud Point Extraction

A new method based on the cloud point extraction（CPE） for separation and preconcentration of nickel（Ⅱ） and its subsequent determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry（GFAAS） was proposed, 8-hydroxyquinoline and Triton X-100 were used as the ligand and surfactant respectively. Nickel（Ⅱ） can form a hy-drophobic complex with 8-hydroxyquinoline, the complex can be extracted into the small volume surfactant rich phase at the cloud point temperature（CPT） for GFAAS determination. The factors affecting the cloud point extraction, such as pH, ligand concentration, surfactant concentration, and the incubation time were optimized. Under the optimal conditions, a detection limit of 12 ng/L and a relative standard deviation（RSD） of 2.9% were obtained for Ni（Ⅱ） determination. The enrichment factor was found to be 25. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of nickel（Ⅱ） in certified reference material and different types of water samples and the recovery was in a range of 95%―103%.

Flow Injection Semi-online Preconcentration Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry for Determination of Cadmium,Copper and Manganese

A micro-flow injection sorbent extraction preconcentration system was combined with a graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry that formed an integrated system for the determination of trace amounts of elements. The analytical performances of the prospsed method for determining Cd, Cu and Mn were studied. The analytes were preconcentrated with a thiol resin(Type 190, produced by Nankai University, China) whose active group is -SH. The elements to be determined were preconcentrated onto the column for 60 s and then rinsed with deionized water and eluted with 30 μL of 1 mol/L HCl. The graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry(GFAAS) determination of the concentrated analyte was carried out in parallel with the next preconcentration cycle. Enrichment factors 41, 22 and 20 and detection limits(3 σ , n =10) 0.36, 3.8 and 7.0 ng/L for Cd, Cu and Mn, respectively, along with a sampling frequency of 20 h -1 , were obtained with a 60 s loading time at a sample flow rate of 3.5 mL/min. The analytical results for a number of water samples show that the flow-injection semi-online column preconcentration can not only eliminate the effect of some concomitant elements, such as Li, Na, K, Ca and Mg, on the determination of the analyte, but also enhance the sensitivity.

On-line Preconcentration of Trace Nickel from Electrolytic Manganese Using Minicolumn Packed Activated Carbon for Electrothermal Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

The online flow injection preconcentration and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry method were used for the determination of trace nickel in electrolytic manganese samples by sorption on a conical minicolumn packed with activated carbon at pH 9.0. The nickel was eluted from the minicolumn with 10%(v/v) nitric acid. An enrichment factor of 190-fold for a sample volume of 10mL was obtained. The detection limit (DL) of nickel with the use of the preconcentration method was 13ng·g -1in the original solid sample. The precision for 10 replicate determinations at 150ng·g -1 nickel concentration was 5.2% relative standard deviation (RSD). The calibration graph was linear with a correlation coefficient of r=0.9996 up to concentration of 660ng·g -1 nickel.

Preconcentration of copper with multi-walled carbon nanotubes pretreated by potassium permanganate cartridge for solid phase extraction prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

A procedure for the preconcentration of copper was described in this paper using multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) oxidized by potassium permanganate as the adsorbent for the enrichment of trace copper in water samples. Important parameters, such as the sample pH, the concentration and volume of eluent, sample flow rate and volume, and interference of coexisting ions, were investigated. The obtained results indicated that proposed method possessed an excellent analytical performance. The linear range, the detection limit, and precison (RSD) were 1–100 ng/mL (R(2) = 0.9993), 0.32 ng/mL and 2.88%, respectively. The results showed that copper could be adsorbed quantitatively on the pretreated MWCNTs with potassium permanganate, and proposed method was very useful in the monitoring of copper in the environment.

Determination of Trace Selenium in Electrolytic Manganese by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

The effects of four types of graphite tube and five matrix modifiers on the determination of selenium by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry were compared.The results show that platform thermolysis coat graphite tube and magnesium nitrate and cobaltco as matrix modifer can get a high sensitivity and a good recovery.The optimized working conditions and interference in the determination were invesigated.This result is consistent with that of XRF.The recovery is from 100.8 % to102.2 %,the relative standard deviation is from 3.47% to 5.56 % (n=9),and the detection limit of selenium is 378 pg (C=44.5μg/g to 97.3μg/g.).The proposed method can be applied to the rapid determination of selenium in electrolytic manganese.

Determination of Iron in Layered Crystal Sodium Disilicate and Sodium Silicate by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with Boric Acid as a Matrix Modifier

The effects of matrix silicate and experimental conditions on the determination of iron in flame atomic absorption spectrometry （FAAS） were investigated. It was found that boric acid as a matrix modifier obviously eliminated silicate interference. Under the optimum operating conditions, the determination results of iron in layered crystal sodium disilicate and sodium silicate samples by FAAS were satisfactory. The linear range of calibration curve is 0-10.5 μg.mL^-1, the relative standard deviation of method is 1.2%-2.2%, the recovery of added iron is 96.0%- 101%, the sensitivity is 0.19 μg.mL^-l and the detection limit is 77 ng.mL^-1. The effect of the determination of iron of the standard curve method, standard addition calibration and colorimetry method was the same, but the first has the merits of rapid sample preparation, reduced contamination risks and fast analysis.

Determination of Trace Iron in High Purity Sodium Fluoride by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A method is described for the direct determination of iron in high purity sodium fluoride using graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry. Interferences caused by the matrix are investigated. It is shown that the ashing temperature can be increased to 1 400°C and matrix interferences eliminated, the sensitivity of iron increased in 1. 27 fold by the addition of nickel nitrate. The method is applied to the determination of iron in sodium fluoride and satisfactory results are obtained.

Preconcentration of Vanadium(Ⅴ) on Crosslinked Chitosan and Determination by Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A new method is proposed for the preconcentration of vanadium(Ⅴ) with crosslinked chitosan (CCTS) and determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). The adsorption rate of vanadium(Ⅴ) by CCTS was 97% at pH 4.0, and vanadium(Ⅴ) was eluted from crosslinked chitosan with 2 mL 2.0 mol·L -1 chlorhydric acid and determined by GFAAS. The detection limit (3σ,n=7) for vanadium(Ⅴ) was 4.8×1 0 -12g and the relative standard deviation (R.S.D) at concentration level of 2.6 μg·L -1 is less than 3.6%. The method shows a good selectivity and high sensitivity, and it was applied to determination of vanadium(Ⅴ) in oyster and water samples. The analytic recoveries are (97±5)%.

Uncertainty in Detecting Copper and Zinc Contents in Maize Flour by Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with Wet Digestion Method

[ Objective] This study aimed to evaluate the uncertainty in detecting copper and zinc contents in maize flour by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. [ Method] Combined with the actual inspection experience, the uncertainty in detecting copper and zinc contents in maize flour by tame atomic absorption spec- trometry was evaluated to establish the mathematical model. The uncertainty sources in the experimental process were investigated to analyze several components af- fecting the uncertainty in sample detection, including sample weighing, standard material transfer, solution dilution and volume setting, curve fitting, and repeat- ability of measurement instruments. [ Result] Standard curve fitting and repeatability test were two major factors that significantly affected the combined standard uncertainty. However, in the actual detection process, standard curve calibration and repeated detection procedures should be controlled strictly. Finally, the ex- panded uncertainty of copper and zinc contents in maize flour was （ 1.38 ± 0.08） mg/kg and （ 10.20 ± 1.20） mg/kg, respectively. [ Conclusion] This study provided reference for improving the accuracy and reliability of the detection method.

Determination of Trace Amounts of Lead by Modified Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry after Liquid Phase Microextraction with Pyrimidine-2-thiol

The liquid phase microextraction (LPME) was combined with the modified Graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS) for determination of lead in the water and solid samples. In a preconcentration step, lead was extracted from a 2 ml of its aqueous sample in the pH = 5 as lead-Pyrimidine-2-thiol cationic complex into a 4 μl drop of 1,2 dichloroethane and ammonium tetraphenylborate as counter ion immersed in the solution. In the drop, the lead-Pyrimidine-2-thiol ammonium tetraphenylborate ion associated complex was formed. After extraction, the microdrop was retracted and directly transferred into a graphite tube modified by [W.Pd.Mg] (c). Some effective parameters on extraction and complex formation, such as type and volume of organic solvent, pH, concentration of chelating agent and counter ion, extraction time, stirring rate and effect of salt were optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factor and recovery were 525% and 94%, respectively. The calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.01 - 12 μg?L–1 with correlation coefficient of 0.9975 under the optimum conditions of the recommended procedure. The detection limit based on the 3Sb criterion was 0.0072 μg?L–1 and relative standard deviation (RSD) for ten replicate measurement of 0.1 μg?L–1 and 0.4 μg?L–1 lead was 4.5% and 3.8% respectively. The characteristic concentration was 0.0065 μg?L–1 equivalent to a characteristic mass of 26 fg. The results for determination of lead in reference materials, spiked tap water and seawater demonstrated the accuracy, recovery and applicability of the presented method.

Speciation of Dissolved Trace Nickel in Environmental Waters by On-Line Sonodigestion-Flow Injection Solid Phase Extraction Coupled to Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

A simple on-line sonodigestion system was successfully used for breakdown organic nickel complexes in environmental waters acidified with diluted nitric acid prior to flow injection total dissolved nickel preconcentration in a microcolumn containing a chelating resin (Chelite Che with iminodiacetic acid groups) and determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. For the determination of the dissolved labile nickel fraction, microcolumns packed with the chelating resin were loaded in-situ with the sample without sample pH modification, and once in the laboratory were inserted in the flow injection device where nickel elution-detection was carried out. The performance of the chelating resin was investigated in order to elucidate its behavior in the presence of dissolved nickel species. The results obtained reveal that the resin, at the experimental employed conditions, retained only dissolved free nickel ions and nickel bound to weak complexes (labile fraction). The figures of merit for determinations in both nickel fractions are given and the obtained values are discussed. The speciation scheme is applied to the analysis of nickel in river and seawater samples collected in Galicia (Northwest, Spain). The results of fractionation showed that Ni are mainly in the dissolved labile fraction in river water, while in seawater samples analyzed was mainly present in the organic fraction.

CO₂Absorption Solvent Degradation Compound Identification Using Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry Quadrapole-Time of Flight (LCMSQTOF)

The degradation of the alkanolamine solvent used in the removal of acid gases from natural gas streams due to exposure to contaminants, thermal degradation and presence of oxygen or oxygen containing compounds will change the solvent properties, such as heat transfer coefficient, diffusion coefficient, and mass transfer coefficient of the solvent. Therefore, characterization and quantification of amine degradation product becomes one of the important analyses to determine alkanolamine solvent’s health. In order to identify degradation products of alkanolamine solvent, analytical strategies by using mass spectrometry (MS) as detector have been studied extensively. In this work, due to the low concentration of the amine degradation product, a method was developed for identification of alkanolamine degradation products using LCMS-QTOF technique. A strategy for identification of trace degradation products has been identified. Six (6) alkanolamine degradation products had been identified by using LCMS-QTOF targeted analysis in the blended alkanolamine solvent used in natural gas processing plant. Another fifteen (15) molecular formulas having similarity in chemical structure to alkanolamine degradation products were identified using untargeted analysis strategy, as possible compounds related to degradation products. Using LCMS-QTOF via targeted and untargeted analysis strategy, without tedious column separation and reference standard, enables laboratory to provide a quick and indicative information for alkanolamine solvent’s organic degradation compounds identification in CO2 adsorption, within reasonable analysis time.

An Innovative Method for the Determination of Sulfur-containing Compounds by Vapor Molecular Absorption Spectrometry

Since the most sensitive resonance lines of nonmetallic elements are situated in vacuum ultraviolet region （below 190 nm）, they can not be directly determined with a common AAS instrument covering the spectral range from 190 to 700 nm. The molecular absorption spectrometry is often used for the determination of nonmetallic elements. Syty et al. used vapor molecular absorption spectrometry（VMAS） to determine the sulfur dioxide and sulfide, in which a hydrogen hollow cathode lamp was used as a continuum source to determine SO;at 210 nm and a deuterium arc