[Study on the adsorption behavior of Ga, In and Tl on nanometer-size titanium dioxide by ICP-AES]

The adsorption behavior of nanometer TiO2 towards Gallium (Ga) Indium (In) and Thallium (Tl) was investigated with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES). The optimum conditions for adsorption were studied in detail, and the test included sorption kinetics, effect of pH on adsorption ratio, enrichment factor, and adsorption capacity. Under the optimum conditions, Ga (III), In(III) and Tl(I) ions could be adsorbed and recovered quantitatively. The static adsorption capacities of Ga(III), In(III) and Tl(I) on nanometer TiO2 were 48.6, 46.6 and 23.4 mg x g(-1) respectively. For the elution of Ga(III), In (III) and Tl(I), a mixture of 0.1 mol x L(-1) EDTA solution and 1.0 mol x L(-1) HNO3 was used, and the recovery ratio was above 92%. According to the definition of IUPAC, the detection limits (3sigma) of this method for Ga, In and Tl with an enrichment factor of 12.5 are 3.0, 6.0 and 13 ng x mL(-1), respectively; and relative standard deviations (RSD) are 1.85%, 1.96% and 3.4%, respectively (n = 6). The proposed method has been applied successfully to the analysis of geological samples with satisfactory results.