Abstract

Establishment of a method for the improvement of the sensitivity of Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (AAS) for zirconium

Author(s): Abhay Yadav, Debdas Bhowmik, Nirmala Sikder, S. N. Singh

Due to refractory nature of zirconiumoxide, the sensitivity of Zirconiumin Flame Atomic Absorption Spectrometer (FAAS) is low even with nitrous oxide-acetylene flame as themaximumtemperature reached is insufficient to break down the compound of Zr and other refractory elements and hence the sensitivity of FAAS for Zr is too low to be measured. Several compounds of fluorides and ammonium ions reported in the literature have been tried for the enhancement of absorption signal of Zr by FAAS and determined the optimum concentrations of NH4F and HF+Al for enhanced absorption signal.Amixture ofHF andAluminiumSalt has been found to be most effective in the enhancement of absorption signal. Results and optimum concentration of the added species for the enhancement of sensitivity of FAAS for Zr have also been reported in this paper.