Developments and Applications of Multielement Graphite Furnace Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

Introduction

Atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) is widely used for the determination of trace elements in numerous and complex matrices. It offers excellent detection limits, high precision, high sensitivity, and acceptable accuracy. One drawback of AAS has been its lack of ability to simultaneously determine several elements. If knowledge of several elements in a sample is desired, an analysis must be run for each sample separately. This leads to an increase in the time required to complete the analysis. It also requires that a separate sample be used for every analysis. This can prove to be difficult when the available sample is small in quantity or is difficult to obtain.