Synthesis of silver nanoparticles by pistachio skin extract and its application for solid phase extraction of Bi(III) followed by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to synthesize of Ag-nanoparticles (Ag-NPs) by the pistachio skin extract followed by its application for preconcentration and measurement of ultra-trace levels of Bi(III) by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. Pistachios skin extract was used as a green reducing agent to produce Ag-NPs from silver ion solution. The results of the FT-IR spectroscopy, UV–Vis spectrophotometry, Scanning electron microscopy, Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and X-ray diffraction spectroscopy show that Ag-NPs with uniform size of 25–40 nm in diameter were synthesized successfully. In order to optimize different parameters affecting the extraction efficiency, Response surface methodology-Box Behnken optimization technique was used. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration curve was linear in the range of 0.5–8 µg L−1 of Bi(III) with a correlation coefficient of 0.9993. The relative standard deviation (%) was 3.5% for five replicate analysis of 1 µg L−1 Bi(III). Also, the limit of detection was 0.09 µg L−1 Bi(III), and the preconcentration factor calculated from the ratio of the volume of sample solution to the desorbent solvent volume after preconcentration step was 100. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by the analysis of certified reference material and spike methods. Finally, this technique was successfully applied for determination of ultra-trace levels of Bi(III) in water, food, human serum and hair samples.