Determination of hexavalent chromium in drinking water by thermal lens spectrometry

Thermal lens spectrometry (TLS) was applied for determination of hexavalent chromium in drinking water. A collinear dual-beam thermal lens spectromete r was used for direct determination of Cr(VI) or on-line detection of Cr(VI ) after ion chromatographic separation of chromium species. Samples of pote ntially polluted drinking water were analyzed by electro thermal atomic abs orption spectrometry (ET-AAS), spectrophotometry (SPEC), thermal lens spect rometry (TLS) and with IC using on-line TLS or W-Vis detection. Comparison of results revealed some advantages of TLS detection over other used method s which include lower limit of detection (0.1 mu g l(-1) in the case of dir ect TLS determination and 0.3 mu g l(-1) in the case of on-line IC-TLS dete rmination) and capability of performing measurements under conditions of re latively high background scattering.