Preconcentration–separation of germanium at ultra trace levels on polysulfone membrane filter and its determination by spectrophotometry

•A membrane filtration procedure for germanium(IV) was established.•Matrix effects were investigated.•The validation was evaluated by the analysis of certified reference material.•The method has been applied for determination of germanium in real samples.

A separation–preconcentration procedure for germanium has been presented. The optimum conditions including pH, sample volume, sample-eluent flow rates, sample and matrix effects for adsorption of germanium(IV) on polysulfone membrane filter were investigated prior to spectrophotometric determination of germanium as Ge(IV)-9-phenyl-3-fluorone complex. Ge(IV) was adsorbed on membrane at pH 4.0 and was eluted from membrane with phosphoric acid. The accuracy was checked by determination of germanium content of GBW 07402 soil certified reference material. The detection and quantification limits were found as 2.1 and 7.0 ng/L, respectively. The method was applied for determination of germanium in soil and water samples.

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