Ultra-trace determination of gold nanoparticles in environmental water by surfactant assisted dispersive liquid liquid microextraction coupled with electrothermal vaporization-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

A new method by coupling surfactant assisted dispersive liquid liquid microextraction (SA-DLLME) with electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ETV-ICP-MS) was proposed for the analysis of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) in environmental water samples. Effective separation of AuNPs from ionic gold species was achieved by using sodium thiosulphate as a complexing agent. Various experimental parameters affecting SA-DLLME of AuNPs, such as the organic solvent, organic solvent volume, pH of the sample, the kind of surfactant, surfactant concentration, vortex time, speed of centrifugation, centrifugation time, and different coating as well as sizes of AuNPs were investigated carefully. Furthermore, the interference of coexisting ions, dissolved organic matter (DOM) and other metal nanoparticles (NPs) were studied. Under the optimal conditions, a detection limit of 2.2 ng L-1 and an enrichment factor of 152-fold was achieved for AuNPs, and the original morphology of the AuNPs could be maintained during the extraction process. The developed method was successfully applied for the analysis of AuNPs in environmental water samples, including tap water, the East Lake water, and the Yangtze River water, with recoveries in the range of 89.6-102%. Compared with the established methods for metal NPs analysis, the proposed method has the merits of simple and fast operation, low detection limit, high selectivity, good tolerance to the sample matrix and no digestion or dilution required. It provides an efficient quantification methodology for monitoring AuNPs' pollution in the environmental water and evaluating its toxicity. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.