Determination of europium (III) by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry with preconcentration by 2-thenoyl trifluoroacetone phenanthrolene modified electrode

A turgsten filament electrode decorated with a mixture of 2-Thenoyl trifluoracetone (HTTA) and phenanthrolene (phen) were used for preconcentration of europium in (CH2)(6)N-4-HCl buffer, then the electrode was put into a pyrolysis coated graphite cup( PGC) for direct atomization and measurement. The linearity range was found from 0.29 x 10(-8) to 5.9 x 10(-8) mol/L. The relative standard deviation(RSD) was 5.26% and the detection limit (C-L) was 5.9 x 10(-10) mol/L, which was 63.5% to that of HTTA modified electrode and 100-fold lower than reported value determined by pyrolysis coated graphite tube (PGT). This method is more sensitive and selective because ternary minced ligand complex was formed when using two kinds of reagents with suitable ratio. Some common metal ions including aluminum and iron were tolerated, and the interference of rare earth metals was reduced notably.