Tantalum carbide coated platforms for atomic absorption spectrometry with electrothermal atomisation: performance characteristics for tin, selenium and rhodium

Abstract

New TaC coated platforms have been tested as atomisation surfaces for ETA-AAS. The aim of this study was to investigate the behaviour of these platforms towards common interferents, compared with those of standard total pyrolytic graphite platforms. A fractional factorial design was applied to determine the interferences and potential interactions between interferents. The analytes studied were Sn, Se and Rh, the interfering cations were Cr, Fe, Na, Mg, Zn and Al. Although no increase in analytical performance was found for Sn or Rh, sensitivity to interferences could be considerably decreased for Se.