Polythiophene-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles as a selective adsorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction of silver(I), gold(III), copper(II) and palladium(II)

We have developed a fast method for sensitive extraction and determination of the metal ions silver(I), gold(III), copper(II) and palladium(II). Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles were modified with polythiophene and used for extraction the metal ions without a chelating agent. Following extraction, the ions were determined by flow injection inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry. The influence of sample pH, type and volume of eluent, amount of adsorbent, sample volume and time of adsorption and desorption were optimized. Under the optimum conditions, the calibration plots are linear in the 0.75 to 100 mu g L-1 concentration range (R-2 > 0.998), limits of detection in the range from 0.2 to 2.0 mu g L-1, and enhancement factors in the range from 70 to 129. Precisions, expressed as relative standard deviations, are lower than 4.2 %. The applicability of the method was demonstrated by the successful analysis of tap water, mineral water, and river water.