Comparison of Chemical Modifiers in Electrothermal Atomization Atomic Absorption Spectrometry with Boron Nitride Tube and Platform Furnaces for Mercury

The effect of various chemical modifiers (KMnO4, AgNO3+KMnO4, Pd, Rh, Ir and Pd+Rh) on ETAAS of Hg with laboratory-made boron nitride tube and platform furnaces was studied. The effectiveness of the chemical modifier was improved by the use of the ceramic furnaces instead of the graphite furnace. The sensitivity, which gives a maximum absorbance of 0.0044 abs for Hg, is found to be 0.11 ng, and the LOD, based on the variability of the blank (3σ), is 27 pg using 10 µg of Pd with the non-pyrolytic boron nitride platform furnace. The good recovery of 102±3% was observed for Hg spiked into a hair sample digested by microwave with nitric acid. The observed Hg content in a certified reference material of human hair was in agreement with its certified value.