Three-Dimensional Printed Dual-Mode Chemical Vapor Generation Point Discharge Optical Emission Spectrometer for Field Speciation Analyses of Mercury and Inorganic Selenium

• Published in: Analytical chemistry (Washington) 2021-11, Vol.93 (45), p.14923-14928
• Main Authors: Yang, Jiahui, Lin, Yao, He, Liangbo, Su, Yubin, Hou, Xiandeng, Deng, Yurong, Zheng, Chengbin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Chemistry; Dimethylmercury; Discharge; Emission analysis; Emissions; Energy consumption; Formic acid; Mercury; Mercury (metal); Methylmercury; Photochemicals; Portable equipment; Power consumption; Sampling instruments; Selenium; Speciation; Three dimensional printing; Titanium dioxide; Vaporizers; Vapors; Water analysis; Water sampling
• ISSN: 0003-2700; 1520-6882
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.analchem.1c02023

Due to the large size and high energy consumption of instruments, field elemental speciation analysis is still challenging so far. In this work, a portable and compact system device (230 mm length × 38 mm width × 84 mm height) was fabricated by using three-dimensional (3D) printing technology for the field speciation analyses of mercury and inorganic selenium. The device comprises a cold vapor generator, photochemical vapor generator, and miniaturized point discharge optical emission spectrometer (μPD-OES). For mercury, inorganic mercury (IHg) was selectively reduced to Hg0 by cold vapor generation, whereas the reductions of both IHg and methylmercury (MeHg) were obtained by photochemical vapor generation (PVG) in the presence of formic acid. For selenium, Se­(IV) and total inorganic selenium were converted to their volatile species by PVG in the presence and the absence of nano-TiO2, respectively. The generated volatile species were consequently detected by μPD-OES. Limits of detection of MeHg, IHg, Se­(IV), and Se­(VI) were 0.1, 0.1, 5.2, and 3.5 μg L–1, respectively. Precision expressed as the relative standard deviations (n = 11) were better than 4.5%. The accuracy and practicality of the proposed method were evaluated by the analyses of Certified Reference Materials (DORM-4, DOLT-5, and GBW­(E)­080395) and several environmental water samples with satisfactory recoveries (95–103%). This work confirms that 3D printing has great potential to fabricate a simple, miniaturized, easy-to-operate, and low gas and power consuming atomic spectrometer for field elemental speciation analysis.