Direct detection of mercury in vapor and aerosol from chemical atomization and nebulization at ambient temperature: exploiting the flame atomic absorption spectrometer

Abstract

A Y-shaped Teflon connector was designed to branch the capillary of a conventional commercial flame atomic absorption spectrometer for the introduction of inorganic Hg²⁺ aqueous solution and KBH₄ solution. The two solutions were merged inside the connector before being nebulized into an aerosol by air in the nebulizer of the instrument, and the atomic absorption of mercury in the cold vapor and the aerosol was directly measured at ambient temperature without gas–liquid separation and without a flame. The limit of detection was 0.01 μg mL⁻¹. The connector is easy to assemble and disassemble. It is a very simple and cost-effective way to exploit a conventional atomic absorption spectrometer for the determination of mercury. This method also features the use of a plentiful auxiliary gas (the ambient air only), simple reagents (KBH₄ and NaOH only) and no need for flame or electricity for atomization.