Simple, fast and simultaneous determination of heavy metals in hair samples by SPE coupled with capillary electrophoresis

Abstract

ABSTRACT A novel, simple, fast and sensitive method for the simultaneous analysis of heavy metals such as Cd(II), Cr(III), Co(II), Pb(II) and Cu(II) in hair samples based on complexometric method with EDTA and using solid-phase extraction with graphene oxide coupled with capillary electrophoresis has been developed. Under the optimised conditions, the proposed methodology had limits of detection from 5.7 to 16.8 µg kg−1 with intra- and inter-day repeatabilities <5% (in respect to relative standard deviation) in all cases. The proposed method was successfully employed for determination of heavy metals in the analysis of 20 hair samples. All samples were positive for at least one of the heavy metals studied with concentrations of 1.2 ± 1.0 mg kg−1 Cd(II), 7.2 ± 4.0 mg kg−1 Cr(III), 0.9 ± 0.8 mg kg−1 Co(II), 0.6 ± 0.2 mg kg−1 Pb(II) and 2.5 ± 0.3 mg kg−1 Cu(II). The method is an easy, robust and efficient strategy for determination of heavy metals in complex matrices.