Designing valid and optimised standard addition calibrations: Application to the determination of anions in seawater

Role of silver nanoparticles in fluorimetric determination of urea in urine samples

Herein, an economical, analytical and sensitive method was established for the fluorometric determination of urea using freshly prepared silver nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) in real urine samples. The standard addition and second-order derivative methods were selected for the ongoing research work to eliminate the possible effect of interferences in a real environment. In this work, Ag-NPs were prepared by reducing silver nitrate salt in the presence of 1,3-di-(1H-imidazole-1-yl) -2-propanol (DIPO) in an aqueous medium. Urea in the urine samples was successfully determined through the complexation of Ag-NPs with urea molecules. The results revealed high percent recovery with ± RSD of urea in the three different urine samples, where percent recoveries by spectrofluorometric standard addition were 99.77 ± 3.4, 100.24 ± 5.1, 100.93 ± 2.8 and that is by the spectrofluorometric second-order derivative method were 103.57 ± 2.4, 101.8 ± 1.3, 98 ± 3.2, respectively. The successful application of these analytical methods in the spectrofluorometric determination of urea in urine samples can accumulate further addition in the effects and possible role of Ag-NPs in the determination of biological molecules in biological and non-biological samples in the scientific as well as clinical fields.

Low-cost Gent type sampler constructed for urban atmospheric aerosol sampling

The importance of studying the atmospheric pollution due to its effects on human health and other ecosystems, the inexistence of national production of equipment for air sample collection, and the high cost of the imported equipment (especially in developing countries) led the authors of the present work to construct a low-cost Gent type sampler. The construction of the sampler was carried out by combining low-cost materials with good mechanical strength (such as nylon 6.0), hydraulic piping PVC, and the use of a 3D printer. The innovation of the present work is the employment of a 3D printer using ABS polymer to create the grids that cannot be machined. In addition to the sampler, the system is composed of a vacuum pump, a gas meter, and a rotameter. The total cost of the sampling system amounted at about 1200 USD, and the cost of the manufactured Gent type sampler did not reach 100 USD. The results obtained while using this set for sampling atmospheric aerosol for a period of 11 months were compared with the mass concentration of PM₁₀ obtained from the official environmental company, CETESB of São Paulo State, Brazil, showing good correlation with those from CETESB - which confirmed its effectiveness and suitability for use. The low cost, easy operation, and versatility of the built Gent type sampler enable its use for scientific and academic purposes. The equipment can be useful in environmental monitoring networks, in low-income regions, and as an instrument for environmental education used in universities.

Nitrogen-Doped Graphdiyne as a Robust Electrochemical Biosensing Platform for Ultrasensitive Detection of Environmental Pollutants

Owing to its unique chemical structure, natural pores, high structure defects, good surface hydrophilicity and biocompatibility, and favorable electrical conductivity, nitrogen-doped graphdiyne (NGDY) has been attracting attention in the application of electrochemical sensing. Taking advantage of these fascinating electrochemical properties, for the first time, two types of electrochemical enzymatic biosensors were fabricated for the respective detection of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) and phenols based on the immobilization of acetylcholinesterase or tyrosinase with NGDY. Results revealed that the sensitivities of the NGDY-based enzymatic biosensors were almost twice higher than that of the matching biosensor in the absence of NGDY, proving that NGDY plays a vital role in immobilizing the enzymes and improving the performance of the fabricated biosensors. The effects of nitrogen doping on improving the biosensing performance were studied in depth. Graphitic N atoms can enhance the electrical conductivity, while imine N and pyridinic N can help to adsorb and accumulate the substance molecules to the electrode surface, all of which contribute to the significantly improved performance. Furthermore, these two types of biosensors also demonstrated excellent reproducibility, high stability, and good recovery rate in real environmental samples, which showed a valuable way for the rapid detection of OPs and phenols in the environment. With these excellent performances, it is strongly anticipated that NGDY has tremendous potential to be applied to many other biomedical and environmental fields.

Monte Carlo bottom-up evaluation of global instrumental quantification uncertainty: Flexible and user-friendly computational tool

Many instrumental methods of analysis require the daily collection of calibrator signals to calibrate their response. The quality of quantifications based on these calibrations depends on calibrators quality, instrumental signal performance and regression model fitness. Linear Ordinary Least Squares (LOLS), Linear Weighted Least Squares (LWLS) or Linear Bivariate Least Squares (LBLS) regression models can be used to calibrate and evaluate the uncertainty from instrumental quantifications, but require the fulfilment of some assumptions, namely, constant signal variance (LOLS), high calibrators quality (LOLS and LWLS) and linear variation of instrumental signal with calibrator values. The LBLS is flexible regarding calibrator values uncertainty and correlation but requires the determination of calibrator values and signals covariances. This work developed a computational tool for the bottom-up evaluation of global instrumental quantifications uncertainty which simulates calibrator values correlations from entered calibrators preparation procedure and simulates calibrators and samples signals precision from prior precision data, allowing accurate uncertainty evaluation from a few replicate signals of the daily calibration. The used signal precision models were built from previously observed repeatability variation throughout the calibration interval adjusted to daily precision condition from a residual standard deviation adjustment factor. This approach was implemented in a user-friendly MS-Excel file and was successfully applied to the analysis of As, Cd, Ni and Pb in marine sediment extracts by Absorption Spectroscopy. Evaluations were tested by the metrological compatibility of estimated and reference values of control standards for confidence levels of 95% and 99%. The success rates of the compatibility tests were statistically equivalent to the confidence level (p-value>0.01).

Characterization of atmospheric aerosol (PM10 and PM2.5) from a medium sized city in São Paulo state, Brazil

Air pollution causes deleterious effects on human health with aerosols being among the most polluting agents. The objective of this work is the characterization of the PM_2.5 and PM₁₀ aerosol mass in the atmosphere. The methods of analysis include WD-XRF and EDS. Data were correlated with meteorological information and air mass trajectories (model HYSPLIT) by multivariate analysis. A morphological structural analysis was also carried out to identify the probable sources of atmospheric aerosols in the city of São José do Rio Preto, Brazil. The mean mass concentration values obtained were 24.54 μg/m³ for PM₁₀, above the WHO annual standard value of 20 μg/m³ and 10.88 μg/m³ for PM_2.5 whose WHO recommended limit is 10 μg/m³. WD-XRF analysis of the samples revealed Si and Al as major components of the coarse fraction. In the fine fraction, the major elements were Al and S. The SEM-FEG characterization allowed identifying the morphology of the particles in agglomerates, ellipsoids and filaments in the PM₁₀, besides spherical in the PM_2.5. The analysis by EDS corroborated WD-XRF results, identifying the crustal elements, aluminosilicates and elements of anthropogenic origin in the coarse fraction. For the fine fraction crustal elements were also identified; aluminosilicates, black carbon and spherical particles (C and O) originating from combustion processes were predominant. The use of multivariate analysis to correlate air mass trajectories with the results of the morpho-structural characterization of the particulate matter allowed confirmation of the complex composition of the particles resulting from the combination of both local and long-distance sources.

Spectrophotometric methods for the determination of urea in real samples using silver nanoparticles by standard addition and 2nd order derivative methods

In this work, we have developed simple, sensitive and inexpensive methods for the spectrophotometric determination of urea in urine samples using silver nanoparticles (AgNPs). The standard addition and 2nd order derivative methods were adopted for this purpose. AgNPs were prepared by chemical reduction of AgNO₃ with hydrazine using 1,3-di-(1H-imidazol-1-yl)-2-propanol (DIPO) as a stabilizing agent in aqueous medium. The proposed methods were based on the complexation of AgNPs with urea. Using this concept, urea in the urine samples was successfully determined spectrophotometric methods. The results showed high percent recovery with ±RSD. The recoveries of urea in the three urine samples by spectrophotometric standard addition were 99.2%±5.37, 96.3%±4.49, 104.88%±4.99 and that of spectrophotometric 2nd order derivative method were 115.3%±5.2, 103.4%±2.6, 105.93%±0.76. The results show that these methods can open doors for a potential role of AgNPs in the clinical determination of urea in urine, blood, biological, non-biological fluids.