Investigation of thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometric determination of cadmium combined with ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction

Abstract

ABSTRACT Ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (UA-DLLME) was combined with thermospray flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (TS-FF-AAS) for the first time to develop a highly sensitive method for the determination of cadmium. Ultrasound was used to assist the liquid phase extraction, replacing the traditional disperser solvent. A self-assembled TS-FF-AAS instrument was adopted to improve the analytical performance of traditional flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS), and the characteristic of micro-injection is fully suitable to be coupled with UA-DLLME. The developed combination significantly improved the analytical performance of TS-FF-AAS and traditional FAAS, while overcoming problems of nebulisation associated with the coupling of FAAS and liquid phase extraction methods. Some environmental water samples were collected and analysed by the developed coupling with satisfactory results.