On-site monitoring of dissolved Sb species in natural waters by an automatic system using flow injection coupled with hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometer

In this study, an automated, portable, and cost-effective system was developed for field simultaneous analysis of Sb(III) and Sb(III + V) in natural waters. The system comprised a portable atomic fluorescence spectrometer equipped with a built-in electrochemical H2 generator to reduce the consumption of acid/borohydride solution and make the atomizer more stable for on-site analysis. Flow injection technique was also used to achieve on-line pretreatment of water samples, including filtration, acidification, pre-reduction, and hydride generation procedures. Under the optimal conditions, the limits of detection (3σ, n = 11) of the developed method were 0.015 μg/L and the linear ranges were 0.05-5.0 μg/L for both Sb(III) and Sb(III + V). The relative standard deviations (n = 11) of the spiked samples of Sb(V) were 3.2% (0.05 μg/L), 3.3% (0.2 μg/L), and 1.7% (0.5 μg/L), respectively. The spiked recoveries of lake water, treated wastewater, and seawater ranged from 97.0% to 108.5%. The novel system of flow injection coupled with hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometer (FI-HG-AFS) was applied to carry out an 18-h fixed-point monitoring at a secondary settling tank of a wastewater treatment facility in Xiamen University, and a 6-h real-time underway analysis in the surface seawater of Dongshan Bay, China, proving that the system was capable of long-term monitoring in the field.PMID:38604046 | DOI:10.1016/j.talanta.2024.126037
Source: Talanta - Category: Chemistry Authors: Source Type: research