Determination of trace lead in environmental water samples by Zeeman effect of graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry

Zeeman effect of graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry was adopted to determine trace lead in environmental water samples, also the temperature raising procedure of graphite furnace and the effect of matrix modifier on the determination were studied. It showed that application of Zeeman effect to deduct background and the use of magnesium nitrate and ammonium biphosphate as matrix modifiers greatly improved the precision and accuracy of the determination. The detection limit of the method was 2.3×10 -10g, and the relative standard deviation was 4.9%.