Electrochemical generation of volatile form of cadmium and its in situ trapping in a graphite furnace

This publication describes the combination of flow-through electrochemical generation (EcVG) of cadmium volatile form with its in situ trapping in a graphite furnace atomizer. Three cathode materials (Pt, Pb, and Ti) and four potentially suitable electrolytes (HCl, H2SO4, HCOOH and NaCl) were tested. Automated sampling equipment for the graphite furnace atomizer with an untreated fused silica capillary was used for the introduction of the cadmium volatile form into the iridium-treated graphite furnace. The limit of detection (LOD) of the electrochemical Cd volatile form generation with in situ collection was 1.0 ng ml− 1 (concentration LOD) or 1.5 ng (absolute LOD). The efficiency of the method was estimated and discussed. The effect of selected concomitant ions was evaluated and the accuracy of the proposed method was established by determination of the Cd content in the NIST SRM 1643e certified reference material.