Evaluation of liquid cathode glow discharge-atomic emission spectrometry for determination of copper and lead in ores samples

In this study, a liquid cathode glow discharge-atomic emission spectrometry (LCGD-AES) was constructed for simultaneously determination of Cu and Pb in digested ores samples, in which the glow discharge was produced between the needle-like Pt anode and electrolyte overflowing from quartz capillary. The stability of LCGD and the effects of discharge voltage, capillary diameter and flow rate on emission intensity were systematically investigated. The limits of detections (LODs) of Cu and Pb were compared with those measured by closed-type electrolyte cathode discharge-atomic emission spectrometry (ELCAD-AES). In addition, the measured results of LCGD were verified by ICP-AES. The results showed that the optimization analytical conditions were 675V discharge voltage, 1.0mm capillary diameter and 5.5mLmin−1 flow rate. The analytical response curves had good linearity in the range of 1–10mgL−1. The RSD was 2.05% for Cu and 1.27% for Pb. The LODs of Cu and Pb were 0.36 and 0.20mgL−1, respectively, which are in agreement with the closed-type ELCAD. The obtained results of Cu and Pb in ore samples by LCGD are consistent with the reference materials of ICP. The recovery of samples is ranged from 85.2–105.6%, suggesting that the determinated results have high accuracy. All the results indicated that the LCGD can provide an alternative analytical method for the determination of metal elements in ores samples. [Display omitted] •A liquid cathode glow discharge-atomic emission spectrometry (LCGD-AES) was constructed.•The effects of discharge voltage, solution flow rate and capillary diameter on emission intensity were investigated.•The Cu and Pb in ores samples were simultaneously determinate by LCGD-AES.•The measurement results of LCGD were well consistent with the reference values of ICP.•The LCGD has higher excitation efficiency, lower energy consumption and better discharge stability.