Rapid determination of selenium in soils and sediments using slurry sampling–electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

An electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometric procedure for the rapid determination of selenium in soil and sediment samples is presented. The samples were suspended in concentrated (40% m/v) hydrofluoric acid containing 1% m/v nickel nitrate and then injected into the electrothermal atomizer. A fast heating programme, with no conventional ashing step, was used. Platform atomization at 2300 °C and Zeeman-effect background correction were used. Calibration was performed directly by using aqueous standards prepared in a 10% v/v hydrofluoric acid solution. The determination limit was 0.1 µg g^–1 of selenium when using the maximum recommended slurry concentration of 10% m/v. The results obtained for five certified reference materials show the reliability of the procedures.