Mercurry(H8) Analysis by the Electrothermal Atomization Method

Introduction

Cold vapor atomic absorption is often used for the microanalysis of mercury. Electrothermal atomization is hardly ever used for mercury analysis, although it is used for the microanalysis of other elements. The main reason for this is the propensity of mercury to vaporize at low temperatures makes it impossible to attain sufficient sensitivity with this method. Here, it is shown how using palladium (Pd) as a matrix modifier makes it possible to quantify mercury at concentrations of around 10 ng/mL with electrothermal atomization, and an example in which this method is used to analyze the mercury in resin is described. The AA-6300 and GFA-EX7i were used for this analysis.

September 5, 2007 GMT