A portable and field optical emission spectrometry coupled with microplasma trap for high sensitivity analysis of arsenic and antimony simultaneously

Yaru Zhang; Ji Ma; Xing Na; Yunbin Shao; Jixin Liu; Xuefei Mao; Guoying Chen; Di Tian; Yongzhong Qian

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121161

A portable and field optical emission spectrometry coupled with microplasma trap for high sensitivity analysis of arsenic and antimony simultaneously

Talanta. 2020 Oct 1:218:121161. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121161. Epub 2020 May 22.

Authors

Yaru Zhang¹, Ji Ma², Xing Na², Yunbin Shao², Jixin Liu³, Xuefei Mao⁴, Guoying Chen⁵, Di Tian⁶, Yongzhong Qian⁷

Affiliations

¹ Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, And Key Laboratory of Agro-food Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, 100081, China; College of Instrumentation & Electrical Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130023, China.
² Beijing Ability Technology Company, Limited, Beijing, 100081, China.
³ Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, And Key Laboratory of Agro-food Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, 100081, China; Beijing Ability Technology Company, Limited, Beijing, 100081, China. Electronic address: ljx2117@gmail.com.
⁴ Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, And Key Laboratory of Agro-food Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, 100081, China. Electronic address: mxf08@163.com.
⁵ U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Eastern Regional Research Center, 600 E. Mermaid Lane, Wyndmoor, PA, 19038, USA.
⁶ College of Instrumentation & Electrical Engineering, Jilin University, Changchun, 130023, China.
⁷ Institute of Quality Standard and Testing Technology for Agro-products, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, And Key Laboratory of Agro-food Safety and Quality, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, Beijing, 100081, China.

PMID: 32797916
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121161

Abstract

In this work, a portable and reliable optical emission spectrometric (OES) instrument based on solid acid hydride generation (HG) and subsequent in situ dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) preconcentration was first developed for simultaneous and field analysis of ultratrace As and Sb in environmental water. In situ DBD fulfilled both gas phase enrichment (GPE) and excitation; effective enrichment made it possible to use a low-cost charge coupled device (CCD) as detector. To simplify field protocol, solid tablet made from sulfamic acid was first used to replace hydrochloric acid for co-generation of As and Sb hydrides. Moisture interference was eliminated by carrier gas sweeping without any desiccant. After calculating peak volume for emission data handling, detection limits (LODs) were 0.5 μg L^-1 for As and 0.2 μg L^-1 for Sb, respectively, with <3% relative standard deviations (RSDs) at 10 μg L^-1; linear dynamic ranges (R²>0.995) were 2-200 μg L^-1 for As and 1-200 μg L^-1 for Sb, respectively. The results agreed with certified values of CRMs and recoveries were 87-97% vs. inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The running costs can be controlled within one dollar per use. This HG-in situ DBD trap-OES scheme, with demonstrated advantages in sensitivity, low-cost, power (<60 W), size (0.6 m × 0.5 m × 0.3 m), weight (15 kg), gas consumption (300 measurements per 4 L tank), and multi-element capability, was implemented in a miniature spectrometer for field analysis.

Keywords: Arsenic & antimony; Environmental water; In situ dielectric barrier discharge; Microplasma gas phase enrichment; Portable & miniaturized optical emission spectrometry; Solid acid.