Study of chemical vapour generation of Au, Pd and Pt by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

Volatile species of Au, Pd and Pt in the media of HCl, HNO3,H2SO4, a mixtur e of HCl and HNO3 (3 : 1) and CH3COOH were generated in a gas-liquid phase separation system by reaction with sodium tetrahydroborate. For the detecti on, inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry was applied. Th e effect of acid concentration on the analytical responses of Au, Pd and Pt and the plasma excitation conditions were studied. Experimental parameters such as flow rates of the sample, reductant and drain were investigated to achieve the optimum conditions for generation of the volatile species. The best conditions for the simultaneous determination of Au, Pd and Pt were o btained using 2.0 mol L-1 HCl. The signal enhancements, in comparison to pn eumatic nebulisation, were 2.3, 2.0 and 1.1 for Au, Pd and Pt, respectively .