Addition of thiourea and hydrochloric acid: Accurate nanogram level analysis of mercury in humic-rich natural waters by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Biopolymer-Modified Carbon Paste Electrode for the Electrochemical Detection of Pb(II) in Water

During the present study, biopolymer lignin was extracted, in particular, from sugar beet pulp (molasses) from the Tadla region (224 km from Marrakech, Morocco). The lignin was characterized by infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and thermogravimetric TG/DTA analysis and then used as a modifier to enhance the electroanalytical detection of heavy metal ion traces. The performance of the lignin/CPE sensor to detect lead (II) was studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and square-wave voltammetry in 0.3 mol L^-1 NaCl. With optimized experimental parameters, the lignin/CPE sensor developed has a minimum detection limit of 2.252.10^-11 M for Pb (II). The proposed working electrode has been successfully applied for the coanalysis of Pb (II) in tap water with good results.

Preconcentration and speciation analysis of mercury: 3D printed metal scavenger-based solid-phase extraction followed by analysis with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A selective method for preconcentration and determination of methylmercury (MeHg) and inorganic mercury (iHg) in natural water samples at the ng L^-1 level has been developed. The method involves adsorption of Hg species into a 3D printed metal scavenger and sequential elution with acidic thiourea solutions before ICP-MS determination. Experimental parameters affecting the preconcentration of MeHg and iHg such as the sample matrix, effect of the flow rate on adsorption, eluent composition, and elution mode have been studied in detail. The obtained method detection limits, considering the preconcentration factors of 42 and 93, were found to be 0.05 ng L^-1 and 0.08 ng L^-1 for MeHg and iHg, respectively. The accuracy of the method was assessed with a certified groundwater reference material ERM-CA615 (certified total iHg concentration 37 ± 4 ng L^-1). The determined MeHg concentration was below MDL while iHg concentration was determined to be 41.2 ± 0.5 ng L^-1. Both MeHg and iHg were also spiked to natural water samples at 5 ng L^-1 concentration and favorable spiking recoveries of 88-97% were obtained. The speciation procedure was successfully applied to two lake water samples where MeHg and iHg concentrations ranged from 0.18 to 0.24 ng L^-1 and 0.50-0.62 ng L^-1, respectively. The results obtained demonstrate that the developed 3D printed metal scavenger-based method for preconcentration and speciation of Hg is simple and sensitive for the determination of Hg species at an ultra-trace level in water samples.

Task specific monolith for magnetic field-reinforced in-tube solid phase microextraction of mercury species in waters prior to online HPLC quantification

In this study, a novel sorbent based on task specific monolith doped with Fe₃O₄ was in situ fabricated in capillary and acted as the extraction medium of magnetic field-reinforced in-tube solid phase microextraction (MFR/IT-SPME) to trap and preconcentrate mercury species which were coordinated with dithizone to form chelates. Various characterization technologies evidenced that the obtained monolithic adsorbent presented porous and super paramagnetic properties, and possessed abundant functional groups. Results evidenced that the implementation of magnetic field during extraction stages enhanced the extraction efficiency of studied Hg chelates from 48.5% to 75.3% to 69.9-94.4%. Under the optimized extraction parameters, the introduced MFR/IT-SPME was online coupled to HPLC/DAD to quantify mercury species at ultra-trace levels in various water samples. Limits of detection varied from 0.0067 μg/L to 0.016 μg/L, and the RSDs for precision were below 7.5%. Additionally, related extraction mechanism was deduced and revealed multiple forces co-contributed to the enrichment. The reliability and accuracy of suggested online approach for speciation analysis of mercury was well proved by confirmatory experiments.