Determination of arsenic and tellurium by hydride generation atomic spectrometry: minimizing interferences from nickel, cobalt and copper by using an alkaline sample solution

An alkaline sample solution in combination with the complexing agent diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) was employed to minimize interference from Ni and Co in the determination of As and Te by hydride generation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry. Tetrahydroborate was also added to the sample solution, before the hydride was generated by acidification with HCl in a continuous-flow system. The masking method was used for the determination of As and Te in the reference material NIST SRM 899 Nickel Alloy. For the determination of As in a copper sample, the interference from Cu was removed by precipitation of the hydroxide and filtration. The precipitation method was used for the determination of As in the reference material NIST SRM 398 Unalloyed Copper V; hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry was employed to determine the concentration of As.