Survey study of mercury determination in detonation nanodiamonds by pyrolysis flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy

• Total content of mercury in 20 nanodiamond samples was measured.
• The amounts of Hg in nanodiamonds are very different depending on the trademark.
• A wide range of Hg concentrations is not expected from technology conditions.
• Results confirmed the necessity to control Hg impurities in nanodiamonds.

A set of 20 commercially available nanodiamond samples of eight manufacturers of various countries, which are most frequently used in basic and applied studies, was analyzed for the concentration of Hg. Conditions of mercury determination by flameless atomic absorption spectroscopy with thermal sample decomposition (pyrolysis) at 800 °C were proposed and confirmed by wavelength-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis. It was found that nanodiamonds have a significant diversity of amounts of mercury, from 20 μg/kg to higher than 0.7 g/kg. Thus, the need to control Hg impurity in nanodiamonds, especially for biological and medical research, was demonstrated. The precision of flameless pyrolysis atomic absorption determination of mercury in nanodiamonds is discussed.

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