Analytical Methods for the Determination of Heavy Metals in Water

MAURICIO LLAVER; MARÍA N. OVIEDO; PAMELA Y. QUINTAS; RODOLFO G. WUILLOUD

Environmental Chemistry for a Sustainable World

Springer, Cham.

Año: 2021; p. 1 - 50

The presence of heavy metals in aqueous systems is a topic of continuous concern in the scientific community due to their high toxicity, coupled to their increasing applications and irresponsible waste management, which demand for a tight control and evaluation of their impact on natural systems. In this respect, analytical chemistry plays a fundamental role for the development and application of more efficient methods and techniques for their quantification. Nevertheless, challenges related to low concentrations, species distributions and complex matrices canonly be overcome with novel, effective and cost-efficient methods that lead to reliable results. This chapter presents an overview of the most used analytical methods for the quantification of trace heavy metals in aqueous samples. It includes an in-depth discussion of atomic spectroscopic and spectrometric techniques, electrochemica analytical tools, ranging from potentiostatic to chemiluminescent methods, and chromatographic and bio-based techniques for heavy metal determination. Additionally, a section dedicated to the growing field of sample preparation is also presented, paying special attention to novel liquid-liquid and solid phase microextraction techniques based on the use of modern solvents and nanomaterials. Throughout the chapter, special emphasis is made on recent developments aimed to the improvement of the sensitivity and limits of detection and on the importance of speciation analysis, a fundamental yet still undervalued aspect of the integral evaluation of the presence and impact of heavy metals in waters.