Visible light photochemical vapor generation using metal-free g-C3N4/CQDs composites as catalyst: Selective and ultrasensitive detection of mercury by ICP-MS

Photochemical vapor generation (PCVG) is a green and effective sampling technology for analytical atomic spectrometry, and in recent years it has been received continuous attention. In this work, visible light photochemical vapor generation was achieved with metal-free g-C3N4/CQDs (carbon nitride/carbon quantum dots) composites as a photocatalyst, and used for selective and ultrasensitive detection of total mercury by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The limit of detection can be as low as 8 ng L− 1, making it one of the most sensitive methods for mercury determination. The visible light photochemical vapor generation can also be coupled to other analytical atomic spectrometric techniques.