Dithizone-modified graphene oxide nano-sheet as a sorbent for pre-concentration and determination of cadmium and lead ions in food

Abstract

Graphene oxide nano-sheet was modified with dithizone as a novel sorbent for selective pre-concentration and determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) in food. The sorbent was characterised by various analytical methods and the effective parameters for Cd(II) and Pb(II) adsorption were optimised during this work. The high adsorption capacity and selectivity of this sorbent makes the method capable of fast determinations of the Cd(II) and Pb(II) content in complicated matrices even at μg l⁻¹ levels using commonly available instrumentation. The precision of this method was < 1.9% from 10 duplicate determinations and its accuracy verified using standard reference materials. Finally, this method was applied to the determination of Cd(II) and Pb(II) ions in common food samples and satisfactory results were obtained.

Keywords:

• cadmium
• lead
• graphene
• dithizone
• food samples

Additional information

Funding

The financial support of Islamic Azad University (South Tehran Branch) is gratefully acknowledged.