Application of the co-luminescence effect of rare earths: simultaneous determination of trace amounts of samarium and europium in solution

The enhanced luminescence of samarium and europium in a thenoyltrifluoroacetone-1,10-phenanthroline-Triton X-100 system in the presence of Gd3+ has been studied. It was shown that the sensitivities were increased by 1–2 orders of magnitude compared with those in the system containing no Gd3+. Under optimum conditions the detection limits were 5.0 × 10–10M for samarium and 7.5 × 10–12M for europium. The procedure was applied satisfactorily to the simultaneous determination of samarium and europium in mixtures of lanthanides.