Determination of Hg in Biological Samples and Ethanol Fuel by Photochemical Vapor Generation after Pre-Concentration in a Gold Trap

In this work, the photochemical vapor generation (PVG) coupled with atomic absorption spectrometry and a pre-concentration step with an Au column was used for the determination of Hg in biological samples and ethanol fuel. PVG with pre-concentration showed an up to 250-fold higher sensitivity compared to the approach without pre-concentration. The accuracy of analysis of biological samples was evaluated using certified reference materials (fish tissues), while for ethanol fuel samples, recovery tests were employed (91%). Analytical curves were linear (R > 0.99) in the studied range of 2.5 to 1...