Determination of Pb in airborne particulate matter with a heavy matrix of silicon by SR-ETAAS

A study is undertaken to monitor Pb levels in airborne particulate matter collected on ash-free glass-fibre filters from urban and industrial areas of Argentina by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry with self-reversal background correction. For this sample with a heavy matrix of silicon, a simple acid treatment with aqua regia and HF is proposed aimed to minimize contamination and reduce sample treatment steps. Ultrasonic agitation was employed for sample homogenization. To overcome the problem of the high amounts of Si, main analytical variables including acid pretreatment conditions, temperature program of the graphite furnace and spectroscopic conditions were carefully studied and optimized. Continuum source and self-reversal methods for background correction were compared in order to avoid non-specific and spectral interferences due to the matrix. After optimization, synthetic acid solutions of Pb were employed for calibration. Calibration was linear within the range 1–40 µg L− 1 (correlation coefficient of 0.9995) when the 283.3 analytical line was used. Using optimized conditions limits of detection (3σ) of 0.6 µg L− 1 were achieved. The repeatability between injections (Sr%) was evaluated and was better than 4.2%. The precision (%RSD) for Pb determination in a single sample was estimated by analyzing three strips of the same filter. In all cases the RSD was better than 6.9%. For checking accuracy, an aliquot of a Standard Reference Material (NIST 2709, San Joaquin Soil) was subject to the same sample treatment and included in the overall analytical process. This method was successfully applied to the determination of Pb in airborne particulate matter collected in Buenos Aires city.