Nanomaterials for photochemical vapor generation-analytical atomic spectrometry

Chemical vapor generation (CVG) is widely used in analytical atomic spectrometry, with advantages of high efficiency of sample introduction (vapor generation and transportation) and matrix separation. Photochemical vapor generation (Photo-CVG) is a new subset of CVG and it has been demonstrated a powerful alternative to conventional CVG techniques due to its inherent advantages. For a long time, most research works have been devoted to improving vapor generation efficiency and expanding the vaporable element scope of Photo-CVG. Nowadays, with the help of nanomaterials and enhancement reagents, Photo-CVG covers a wide range of detectable elements and the vapor generation efficiency of some elements has been improved significantly. In this review, we summarizes the developments and applications of nanomaterials/enhancement reagents assisted Photo-CVG for analytical atomic spectrometry, including TiO2 and TiO2-based composites, MOFs and some metal ions utilized as photocatalysts, photo-oxidation/reduction and enhancement reagents; as well as nanomaterials for preconcentration/separation in Photo-CVG systems.