Preconcentration/Cleanup Studies of Tin from Environmental Water Samples by Oxidized Multiwall Carbon Nanotubes Packed Column and its Determination by ETAAS

The use of multiwall carbon nanotubes (MWCNT) as an efficient solid extractor in preconcentration/cleanup studies for tin determination in water samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) is proposed. In the proposed method, tin adsorption onto MWCNT was carried out by percolating the solution previously buffered (pH 4.79 with 0.24 mol?L^?1 acetic acid/acetate buffer) at 4.0-mL?min^?1 flow rate, followed by elution with 1.0 mL of 2.7 mol?L^?1 HNO₃. Factors such as sample pH, preconcentration/cleanup flow rate, type and concentration of eluent, and buffer concentration were appraised and optimized from chemometric tools based on fractional factorial design and Doehlert design. A limit of detection of 0.73 ??g?L^?1 and precision (n?=?8) assessed as relative standard deviation of 8.6% and 7.0% for tin concentration of 8.0 and 43.0 ??g?L^?1, respectively, were achieved. Foreign metallic ions (Ni²⁺, Pb²⁺, Co²⁺, Zn²⁺, Cd²⁺, Mn²⁺, and Fe³⁺) were checked as potential interferents, and no interference was observed up to an analyte/interference ratio of 1:10 (m/v). Direct tin determination by ETAAS in water samples containing high salt amount is drastically affected by background signal. However, previous cleanup of sample by MWCNT has promoted a significant improvement and makes the method useful for tin monitoring in water samples (mineral, lake, mine, and natural waters) by ETAAS. Quantitative recovery values ranging from 91.5% to 103.0% attested the applicability of the proposed preconcentration/cleanup for tin determination in water samples.