Measuring Conditions for the Determination of Lead in Iron-Matrix Samples Using Graphite Atomizers with/without a Platform in Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Abstract

In graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GF-AAS), the atomization process of lead occurring in graphite atomizers with/without a platform plate was investigated when palladium was added to an iron-matrix sample solution containing trace amounts of lead. Absorption profiles of a lead line were meas- ured at various compositions of iron and palladium. Variations in the gas temperature were also estimated with the progress of atomization, by using a two-line method under the assumption of a Boltzmann distribu- tion. Each addition of iron and palladium increased the lead absorbance in both the atomizers, indicating that iron or palladium became an effective matrix modifier for the determination of lead. Especially, palladium played a significant role for controlling chemical species of lead at the charring stage in the platform-type atomizer, to change several chemical species to a single species and eventually to yield a dominant peak of the lead absorbance at the atomizing stage. Furthermore, the addition of palladium delayed the peak after the gas atmosphere in the atomizer was heated to a higher temperature. These phenomena would be because the temperature of the platform at the charring stage was elevated more slowly compared to that of the furnace wall, and also because a thermally-stable compound, such as a palladium-lead solid solution, was produced by their metallurgical reaction during heating of the charring stage. A platform-type atomizer with palladium as the matrix modifier is recommended for the determination of lead in GF-AAS. The optimum condition for this was obtained in a coexistence of 1.0 × 10–2 g/dm3 palladium, when the charring at 973 K and then the atomizing at 3073 K were conducted.