TY - JOUR
T1 - Precise determination of Sc in natural waters by neutron activation analysis coupled with preconcentration of Sc
AU - Nomura, Miho
AU - Sato, Mayumi
AU - Amakawa, Hiroshi
AU - Oura, Yasuji
AU - Ebihara, Mitsuru
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful to an inter-university cooperative program for the use of JAERI reactors supported by the University of Tokyo. This work was supported in part by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan, under the Grant-in-Aids Nos.15340193 (P. I. Mitsuru Ebihara) and 15540466 (P. I. Hiroshi Amakawa) to the Tokyo Metropolitan University.
PY - 2005/11/30
Y1 - 2005/11/30
N2 - We have developed a precise method for determining Sc in natural water samples by preconcentration neutron activation analysis (PNAA) using a carrier-free radioactive nuclide (47Sc) as a yield tracer. The separation of Sc from natural water samples was performed by iron precipitation technique followed by an anion exchange method, which enables more than 88% of Sc recovery. Blank samples indicated that the blank contribution was not negligible for determining Sc in natural samples. As for a surface seawater sample, blank corrections in raw data (real amount + blank) were 58-65% and 29% for the use of the normal polyethylene sheet and the high purity sheet, respectively, for sealing samples in neutron activation. However, the corrected data showed a good agreement irrespective of the polyethylene sheets. Our surface seawater Sc data (0.23-0.34 ng/kg) were comparable or slightly higher than the previous data. On the other hand, the rainwater Sc data (2.49-3.05 ng/kg) were one order lower than the reported data. As for rainwater, we are confident that our data were more reliable than the reported data, because the reported data were considered to be susceptible to contamination. Although further studies are required, we believe our newly developed Sc determination technique could be applied to various natural water samples.
AB - We have developed a precise method for determining Sc in natural water samples by preconcentration neutron activation analysis (PNAA) using a carrier-free radioactive nuclide (47Sc) as a yield tracer. The separation of Sc from natural water samples was performed by iron precipitation technique followed by an anion exchange method, which enables more than 88% of Sc recovery. Blank samples indicated that the blank contribution was not negligible for determining Sc in natural samples. As for a surface seawater sample, blank corrections in raw data (real amount + blank) were 58-65% and 29% for the use of the normal polyethylene sheet and the high purity sheet, respectively, for sealing samples in neutron activation. However, the corrected data showed a good agreement irrespective of the polyethylene sheets. Our surface seawater Sc data (0.23-0.34 ng/kg) were comparable or slightly higher than the previous data. On the other hand, the rainwater Sc data (2.49-3.05 ng/kg) were one order lower than the reported data. As for rainwater, we are confident that our data were more reliable than the reported data, because the reported data were considered to be susceptible to contamination. Although further studies are required, we believe our newly developed Sc determination technique could be applied to various natural water samples.
KW - Carrier-free radioactive nuclide
KW - Neutron activation analysis
KW - Preconcentration
KW - Rainwater
KW - Seawater
KW - Yield tracer
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U2 - 10.1016/j.aca.2005.07.066
DO - 10.1016/j.aca.2005.07.066
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:27144539153
SN - 0003-2670
VL - 553
SP - 58
EP - 63
JO - Analytica Chimica Acta
JF - Analytica Chimica Acta
IS - 1-2
ER -