Mesoporous titanium dioxide as a novel solid-phase extraction material for flow injection micro-column preconcentration on-line coupled with ICP-OES determination of trace metals in environmental samples

Mesoporous titanium dioxide as a novel solid-phase extraction material for flow injection micro-column preconcentration on-line coupled with ICP-OES determination of trace metals (Co, Cd, Cr, Cu, Mn, Ni, V, Ce, Dy, Eu, La and Yb) in environmental samples was described. Possessing a high adsorption capacity towards the metal ions, mesoporous titanium dioxide has found to be of great potential as an adsorbent for the preconcentration of trace metal ions in samples with complicated matrix. The experimental parameters including pH, sample flow rate, volume, elution and interfering ions on the recovery of the target analytes were investigated, and the optimal experimental conditions were established. Under the optimized operating conditions, a preconcentration time of 90 s and elution time of 18 s with enrichment factor of 10 and sampling frequency of 20 h−1 were obtained. The detection limits of this method for the target elements were between 0.03 and 0.36 μg L−1, and the relative standard deviations (R.S.D.s) were found to be less than 6.0% (n =7, c =5 ng mL−1). The proposed method was validated using a certified reference material, and has been successfully applied for the determination of the afore mentioned trace metals in natural water samples and coal fly ash with satisfactory results.