Rapid determination of Hg isotopes in low concentration water samples by flow injection-plasma electrochemical vapor generation

Abstract

A new strategy for determining the Hg isotopes in low Hg concentration samples is proposed, utilizing the flow injection plasma electrochemical vapor generation (FI-PEVG) sampling technique coupled with MC-ICPMS. Our study reveals that PEVG technology not only offers superior sensitivity compared to that achieved by conventional cold vapor generation (CVG), but also reduces potential interferences/contaminations arising from reagents as it avoids the use of SnCl2, thus greatly facilitating the analysis of low content samples. By integrating with the FI technique, we can decrease the required sample volume to 0.15 mL (1.5 ng) and shorten the analysis time to just 150 s, resulting in significant reductions in sample consumption and analysis time. Different parameters affecting Hg isotope measurements were optimized, and the linear regression slope method was selected to process the transient Hg isotope signals. Under the optimized conditions, the δ202Hg and Δ199Hg values achieved a precision of 0.05‰ and 0.04‰ (SD, n = 33), respectively. The efficacy of our strategy is demonstrated by analyzing spiked natural water samples and two reference materials (GBW 08617 and GBW(E) 080124). Although a small number of low Hg concentration samples have been analyzed in this study, it is believed that the proposed method provides a promising rapid and sensitive approach for accurate Hg isotope analysis of low-content samples.

Graphical abstract: Rapid determination of Hg isotopes in low concentration water samples by flow injection-plasma electrochemical vapor generation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
30 Jan 2024
Accepted
15 Apr 2024
First published
16 Apr 2024

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2024, Advance Article

Rapid determination of Hg isotopes in low concentration water samples by flow injection-plasma electrochemical vapor generation

G. Wang, X. Liu, S. Li, J. Dong, X. Wang, Y. Wang, D. He, Y. Huang, Y. Du, H. Zheng, S. Hu and Z. Zhu, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2024, Advance Article , DOI: 10.1039/D4JA00033A

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements