Determination of aluminium using different techniques based on the Al(III)-morin complex

Three different methods for the determination of Al(III) in aqueous samples were compared. The different described procedures were based on the formation of the Al(III)-morin complex. UV–Vis spectrophotometry, spectrofluorimetry and differential pulse adsorptive stripping voltammetry (DPAdSV) techniques were compared under optimized experimental conditions. The DPAdSV method showed a better performance for the analysis of Al(III) in terms of capability of detection (70 nM) in comparison with the value obtained for UV–Vis spectrophotometric (300 nM) and spectrofluorimetic (110 nM) techniques. Thus, DPAdSV method was selected for the analysis of aluminium in river, tap and bottled water samples under the following optimized experimental conditions: pH = 4.4, deposition potential = +243 mV, deposition time = 210 s, giving satisfactory results. [Display omitted] •Voltammetric determination of Al(III) using a GCE.•High sensitivity and selectivity.•Comparison of electrochemical, UV–VIS and spectrofluorimetic methods.•Successful determination of Al(III) in real samples.