Revisited digestion methods for trace element analysis in human hair

Background The human hair is a potential material for assessing the exposure to environmental contaminants and tracing human mobility. Although various digestion methods have been proposed for determining trace elements in the human hair, there is no consensus about the best method among them yet. Findings We examined five different methods in order to determine the best method yielding the most accurate and precise data of trace elements in the human hair using two certified reference human hairs (IAEA085 and IAEA086) under controlled conditions (temperature, the volume of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ), and the number of digestion). Results showed that a high temperature of 160 °C yields better recovery rates than a low temperature of 70 °C. Furthermore, the additional input of H 2 O 2 increases the recovery rate from 90 to 102%, and the two-time digestion also promotes the recovery rate. Conclusions This study suggests that although the combination of high temperature (160 °C), high volume of H 2 O 2 (0.4 mL), and two-time digestion yields the most accurate and precise data of trace elements in the human hair, the digestion method should be carefully selected depending on the content of organometallic cation.

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