title: In-situ suspended aggregate microextraction of gold nanoparticles from water samples and determination by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry.
abstract: This work describes a new method for the extraction and determination of gold nanoparticles in environmental samples by means of in-situ suspended aggregate microextraction and electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The method relies on the in-situ formation of a supramolecular aggregate phase through ion-association between a cationic surfactant and a benzene sulfonic acid derivative. Gold nanoparticles are physically entrapped into the aggregate phase which is separated from the bulk aqueous solution by vacuum filtration on the surface of a cellulose filter in the form of a thin film. The film is removed from the filter surface and is dissociated into an acidified methanolic solution which is used for analysis. Under the optimized experimental conditions, gold nanoparticles can be efficiently extracted from water samples with recovery rates between 81.0-93.3%, precision 5.4-12.0% and detection limits as low as 75femtomolL(-1) using only 20mL of sample volume. The satisfactory analytical features of the method along with the simplicity indicate the efficiency of this new approach to adequately collect and extract gold nanoparticle species from water samples.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Tatiana G
authors.initials: TG
authors.lastname: Choleva
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Foteini A
authors.initials: FA
authors.lastname: Kappi
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: George Z
authors.initials: GZ
authors.lastname: Tsogas
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Athanasios G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Vlessidis
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimosthenis L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Giokas
keywords: Electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry; Gold nanoparticles; In-situ suspended aggregate microextraction; Natural waters