Novel Portable Metal Analyzer Based on Simultaneous Electrothermal Atomic Absorption and Emission Spectrometry

A portable metal analyzer was constructed for simultaneous atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic emission spectrometry (AES) analyses; it had an electrothermal tungsten coil for atomization/excitation and two hand-held charge coupled device (CCD) spectrometers for multichannel optical detection. Using this analyzer, the AAS measurements of Cr, Cu, In, and V had limits of detection (LODs) of 1.2, 0.8, 5.3, and 150 μg L-1, respectively. Mg, V, Cu, Ni, Fe, Ba, Cr, and Mn were simultaneously analyzed by AES and had LODs of 0.39, 0.10, 0.29, 0.18, 0.21, 0.38, 0.06, and 0.05 mg L-1, respectively. Compared with single-function AAS or AES with the same electrothermal tungsten coil, this dual function analyzer can effectively expand the range of detectable elements and their linear ranges and improve analytical efficiency. Additionally, this portable metal analyzer has the advantages of compactness, low power consumption, ease of operation, and portability for on-site analysis. By utilizing this analyzer, several certified reference materials (CRMs) and real water samples were analyzed, and analytical results were consistent with certified values or had satisfactory recoveries. Moreover, this simultaneous AAS and AES mode may provide technical support for studying the processes and mechanisms of the atomization and excitation of analyte elements.