On the use of noble metals modifiers for simultaneous determination of As, Sb and Se by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

Abstract Pd, Ir and Rh have been investigated as chemical modifiers for the simultaneous determination of As, Sb and Se by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The integrated absorbances as well as the shape of the signals were investigated with varying pyrolysis (700–1700 °C) and atomization (2000–2500 °C) temperature. Additionally the inspection of the graphite surface was performed with the use of scanning electron microscope with energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence spectroscopic detection. It was demonstrated that the best analytical performance was achieved when pre-reduced Ir is used (characteristic masses were 36.1; 42.3; 54.5 pg for As Sb and Se, respectively) Pd was found to be a good modifier for the evaluation of the graphite quality.