Separation with P₅₀₇ Levextrel Resin for Rapid Determination of Ag in Geochemical Exploration Samples by ICP-MS

The oxide ion of Zr and Nb (⁹¹Zr¹⁶O and ⁹³Nb¹⁶O) shows serious interferences in the determination of low level of Ag by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS), which leads to large errors in the results. A simple normal method is being reported here to determine Ag in geochemical exploration samples by ICP-MS. The solution for trace element measurements was passed through the P₅₀₇ levextrel resin column. Zr and Nb were retained on the resin, while Ag and the internal element of Rh, passed through the resin. The analyzed element Ag in geochemical exploration sample was effectively separated with the interference elements Zr and Nb. The recovery of Ag and Rh is more than 95%, the detection limit of Ag is 0.05 μg/g. The results of reference materials agree well with the certified values. The proposed method is very simple and can be used for routine determination of Ag in large quantities of geochemical exploration samples. The resin can be re-used by using hydrofluoric acid as the eluting solution, and thus reducing the cost.