Abstract
While engineered nanoparticles are widely used and maybe eventually released into the environment, natural nanoparticles are also commonly found in the Earth system. Nanoparticles may critically affect the geochemical migration of associated elements and pose potential threats to the ecological environment. It is necessary to establish an accurate and reliable method for measuring the concentration of nanoparticles. AAS is one of the most commonly used methods for the concentration determination of nanoparticles. However, till now, there has been no systematic report on how experimental variables affect AAS measurements. In this study, we used gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) as an example and studied the influences of a list of factors on the concentration determination of AuNPs by AAS, including digestion method, ionization interference, acidic medium, background correction method, and organic matter. We demonstrate that all these factors may have varying degrees of influence on the measured gold concentrations. When the gold colloid is digested at room temperature for more than 8 h or at 60 °C for more than 2 h, and the system contains a low concentration of organic matter, AAS can accurately measure the AuNP concentration at ppm-level. The deuterium lamp background deduction method is not recommended to use for samples with lower gold concentrations.
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The datasets used and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by Guizhou Provincial Science and Technology Foundation (Qian Sci. Co. ZK[2021] No. 198), Doctoral Research Startup Project in 2017 of Guizhou Normal University in China, the B-type Strategic Priority Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. XDB41000000), the National Natural Science Foundation of China (41872046, 41173074 and 42063008). We also thank Dr. Shirong Liu and Hongwen Ling (Senior Engineer) at the Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, for lab assistance.
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All authors contributed to the conception and design study. Data collection and analysis: Yuhong Fu, Quan Wan and Sen Li; Methodology: Zonghua Qin, Shanshan Li and Ji Wang; Writing—original draft preparation: Yuhong Fu; Writing—review and editing: Quan Wan. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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Fu, Y., Wan, Q., Qin, Z. et al. Concentration determination of gold nanoparticles by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry. Acta Geochim 40, 498–506 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-021-00486-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11631-021-00486-y