Sensitive determination of nickel at trace levels in surface water samples by slotted quartz tube flame atomic absorption spectrometry after switchable solvent liquid-phase microextraction

Abstract

In this study, switchable solvent (SS) for liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) was used as a tool to preconcentrate nickel from aqueous samples for determination by flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The SS-LPME method was optimized thoroughly to boost the absorbance signal of nickel for trace level determination. Parameters optimized included switchable solvent volume, sodium hydroxide concentration, sodium hydroxide volume, and eluent volume. The SS-LPME method enhanced the detection power by about 32-folds, and a slotted quartz tube (SQT) was used to obtain 2.6-folds increase in detection power. The combination of LPME and SQT-FAAS produced 104-folds enhancement, correlating to a limit of detection value of 1.8 mu g/L. Low relative standard deviations calculated for the lowest calibration concentration indicated good repeatability for replicate measurements. Accuracy of the optimized method and its applicability to real samples was tested on two river samples. The results (85-103%) obtained from the spike recovery experiments were satisfactory.