Determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in water by dual-gel electromembrane extraction and a microfluidic paper-based device

A major goal of green chemistry is to avoid the use of toxic organic solvents. In particular, there are few green methods allowing extraction and quantification of chromium species in environmental samples. Here, we developed home-made, dual-gel electromembrane extraction combined with a microfluidic paper-based analytical device for the simultaneous determination of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) in water, without using any organic solvent. The positively charged Cr(III) and negatively charged Cr(VI) migrated selectively into the cathodic (pH 2.0) and anodic (pH 3.0) aqueous acceptor phases, respectively. After extraction, the anodic acceptor phase containing Cr(VI) was analyzed directly by a microfluidic paper-based analytical device, after the addition of the diphenylcarbazide colorimetric reagent. The cathodic acceptor phase containing Cr(III) was mixed with Ce(IV) to oxidize Cr(III) to Cr(VI), and then, Cr(VI) ions were detected on the microfluidic paper-based analytical device after adding diphenylcarbazide. Under the optimized conditions, limits of detection of 2.0 and 3.0 ng/mL and extraction recoveries of 58.8% and 83.3% were achieved for Cr(VI) and Cr(III), respectively.