Determination of Cadmium in Seawater by Vapor Generation Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry After Online Preconcentration with a Novel Alkyl Phosphinic Acid Resin

Abstract

Vapor generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (VG‐AFS) coupled with online preconcentration on a short column (4.6 mm×50‐mm length) packed with a newly synthesized alkyl phosphinic acid resin (APAR) was developed for the determination of trace Cd in seawater. During the online preconcentration process, Cd in seawater was concentrated on the column while the matrix of seawater was separated flowing out of the column. Cd concentrated on the column was then eluted effectively from the column with 0.1 mol L−1 tartaric acid within 40 s. When the sample volume was 200 mL, an enrichment factor 189 was achieved. The detection limit of this proposed method for Cd is 2.67 ng L−1. The recovery of Cd is 96.6% obtained by spiking the correspondence standard, and the precision (RSD) is 4.34% (n=6). The established APAR/VG‐AFS was applied to the determination of soluble Cd in the seawater around Xiamen Island, China.