[Determination of selenium in Chinese herbs by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry].

A method for the determination of selenium by hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) was proposed in this paper. The experimental conditions including the temperature of atomizer, height of atomizer, lamp current, flow rate of carrier gas, concentration of KBH4, and acidic medium that affect the generation of hydride and the sensitivity of the method were investigated and optimized. The influence of coexisting foreign ions on the determination of selenium was also investigated. The detection limit of the proposed method was found to be 0.21 ng.mL-1. The proposed method was successfully applied to the determination of selenium in ten kinds of Chinese herbs, and the recoveries were in the range of 95%-105%.