Between-batch variability of thermal characteristics of commercially available L'vov platform graphite tube atomisers and analytical accuracy in electrothermal atomisation atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

Variable lead atom signals and analytical sensitivities, with several batches of commercially available L'vov platform graphite tube atomisers, gave unacceptably poor analytical performances in an established ETA-AAS method for the determination of lead in whole blood. The source of the variation was identified as the variable contact between the L'vov platform and the grooves cut into the inner wall of the graphite tube which produced variable rates of atomisation. The problem was overcome by using L'vov platforms in non-grooved tubes, but a long-term remedy requires an alternative support for the L'vov platform within the graphite tube.