Effect of Powder Reductants in Flameless Atomic Absorption of Beryllium

Abstract

We have previously reported the elimination of interference of anions and deoxidation effects by the addition of carbon black in sample solutions in flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry, and the effects on absorbance of molybdenum and vanadium by flameless method. This report deals with the enhancing of absorbance and atomizing effect in flameless atomic absorption spectrophotometry of beryllium by the addition of the various powder reductants such as carbon black, metal hydrides (calcium, lithium and sodium tetrahydroborate) and sulfur.
By dispersing carbon black in the aqueous solution, the absorbance increased about twice, and by using of N, N-dimethyl formamide solution dispersed carbon black and metal hydrides and absorbance increased by about seven times that of without powder reductants. By the results of the investigation of relationship between the absorbance and amount of powder reductants, it was found that the effective amount was about 1-2% as carbon black, 0.1%as hydrides and O.01% as sulfur.
It apears that the enhancement of absorbance is due to the deoxidation effects of powder reductants and suppressed vaporization and activated decomposition of metal salts.