On the coupling of hydride generation (HG) with flowing liquid anode atmospheric pressure glow discharge (FLA-APGD) for determination of traces of As, Bi, Hg, Sb and Se by optical emission spectrometry (OES)

Monika Gorska; Krzysztof Greda; Pawel Pohl

doi:10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121510

On the coupling of hydride generation (HG) with flowing liquid anode atmospheric pressure glow discharge (FLA-APGD) for determination of traces of As, Bi, Hg, Sb and Se by optical emission spectrometry (OES)

Talanta. 2021 Jan 15:222:121510. doi: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121510. Epub 2020 Aug 7.

Authors

Monika Gorska¹, Krzysztof Greda², Pawel Pohl²

Affiliations

¹ Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Division of Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Metallurgy, Wybrzeze Stanislawa Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370, Wroclaw, Poland. Electronic address: monika.gorska@pwr.edu.pl.
² Wroclaw University of Science and Technology, Faculty of Chemistry, Division of Analytical Chemistry and Chemical Metallurgy, Wybrzeze Stanislawa Wyspianskiego 27, 50-370, Wroclaw, Poland.

PMID: 33167221
DOI: 10.1016/j.talanta.2020.121510

Abstract

A novel atmospheric pressure glow discharge (APGD) microplasma system, sustained between a miniaturized flowing liquid anode (FLA) and a He jet nozzle cathode, was combined with a hydride generation (HG) technique to improve the determination performance of As, Bi, Hg, Sb, and Se with the aid of optical emission spectrometry (OES). The discharge current, the He flow rate, and the concentrations of HCl and NaBH₄ were considered to affect both the HG reaction and the excitation conditions in the discharge, thus they were thoroughly studied. Under the optimized conditions, the detections limits (LODs), assessed on the basis of the 3σ criterion, reached 1.7, 0.85, 0.04, 0.51, and 2.9 μg L^-1 for As, Bi, Hg, Sb, and Se, respectively. The HG and transport efficiency for these elements was evaluated to be 88-100%, which is notably better, as compared to their transport efficiency in the conventional FLA-APGD system, without the HG technique. This yielded an improvement of the LODs achievable in this system and, simultaneously, enabled to determine As, Sb, and Se at a level, which is unobtainable with the use of the FLA-APGD system alone. The proposed methodology was then successfully applied for a quantitative determination of the examined elements in wastewater (ERM-CA713) and spiked water samples. The recoveries of the elements added to these waters (at the maximum acceptable levels in drinking water set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) ranged between 81 and 104%, confirming the excellent accuracy, usefulness, and reliability of the developed HG-FLA-APGD technique.

Keywords: Atmospheric pressure glow discharge; Cold vapor generation; Flowing liquid anode; Hydride generation; Miniaturized plasma; Optical emission spectrometry; Solution anode glow discharge.