Rapid determination of silver in nanobased liquid dietary supplements using a portable X-ray fluorescence analyzer

This paper reports a rapid and straightforward method for the quantitation of total Ag content in nanobased commercially available liquid dietary supplements using a portable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF) analyzer. Figures of merits were evaluated by analyzing a series of AgNO3 standards. This method was shown to have a detection limit of 3 ppm, a quantitation limit of 10 ppm, and a broad linear range from the detection limit to 10000 ppm (1%). Accurate detection and quantitation of Ag content in well-characterized Ag nanoparticle samples and in nanobased liquid dietary supplements were achieved with good correlation (i.e., percentage difference average values under 15%) between the total Ag concentration obtained by the pXRF analyzer and by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Furthermore, accurate quantitation of Ag in the presence of high concentrations of potential spectral interferences was also demonstrated.