In the present study, a simple electrochemical sensor for trace determination of Hg(II) ions in aqueous solutions was introduced. The proposed sensor was designed by incorporation of the 4-methyl-piperidine-carbodithioate capped gold nanoparticles (GNPs) into the carbon paste electrode (CPE), which provides a remarkably improved sensitivity for stripping voltammetric determination of Hg(II). Di...

Mercury cycling in the water column and upper sediments of a contaminated area, the Largo do Laranjo, Aveiro (Portugal), was evaluated after determination of reactive and non-reactive mercury concentrations in the water column and pore waters of sediments, collected in several places of this bay. In the water column, reactive mercury concentrations varied between 10 and 37 pmol dm(-3), the high...

Direct determination of mercury (Hg) speciation in sulfide-containing environments is confounded by low mercury concentrations and poor analytical sensitivity. Here we report the results of experiments designed to assess mercury speciation at environmentally relevant ratios of mercury to dissolved organic matter (DOM) (i.e., <4 nmol Hg (mg DOM)(-1)) by combining solid phase extraction using C(1...

A micell-mediated phase separation method for preconcentration of ultra-trace quantities of mercury as a prior step to its determination by UV-Vis spectrophotometry has been developed. The method is based on Hg(II)-dithizone complex formation in alkaline aqueous solution, and extraction of this Hg(II)-dithizone secondary complex into the surfactant-rich phase of the non-ionic surfactant oct...

A simple and ultrasensitive method, which was based on cold vapor generation (CVG) coupled to atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS), was proposed for speciation analysis of inorganic mercury (Hg2+) and methylmercury (MeHg) in water samples. In the presence of UV irradiation, all the mercury (MeHg+Hg2+) in a sample solution can be reduced to Hg0 by SnCl2; without UV irradiation, only Hg2+ speci...

A time-based sequential dispensing on-line column preconcentration procedure for mercury determination at trace levels by cold vapour generation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (CV-ICP-AES), by means of a unified module of a preconcentration column and a gas-liquid separator (PCGLS) is described. The complex of mercury formed on-line with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarba...

Non-dispersive atomic fluorescence spectrometry (NDAFS) coupled with vapor generation (VG) sample introduction was applied to the determination of the concentrations of hazardous heavy metals, such as arsenic, cadmium, lead and mercury, in seawater, soils and total airborne particulate matter (PM) collected around the Xiamen area in China. Almost 100% sample introduction efficiency was achieved...