The first part of the master thesis is focused on theoretical analysis of the problems of diagnostics of an electric arc physical properties. In the thesis there is shown identification of spectral lines in experimentally measured electric arc spectra. The thesis deals also with energy balance of the arc. Next part of thesis is aimed to theoretical analysis of effects of electric arc on construction materials of low voltage electric apparatuses. The main part of thesis is devoted to experimental measurement of arc radial temperature changes, measurement of cathode temperature and research of electrical arc effect on selected construction materials of low voltage apparatuses.

The presented thesis deals with optimization of parameters speciation analysis based on a selective hydride generation in a direct transfer mode of hydrides and on-line atomization in an atomic absorption spectrometer. In the first part of the thesis processes during generation were investigated. Important indicator of a reactions taking place in a generator is volume of hydrogen (created by decomposition of NaBH4) which is subsequently introduced to the atomizer. In this part of the thesis a new approach to determine a flow rate of hydrogen delivered to the atomizator was developed. An influence of relevant paremeters of the atomizers and atomic absorption spectrometers on basic analytical characteristics of arsenic determination based on hydride generation was performed in the second part. Three atomic absorption spectrometers were used and three sources of radiation were compared. The most important analytic characteristic was the limit of detection which is influenced by standard deviation of measurement values of blank samples and by sensitivity. The best values of the limit of detection were achieved with electrodeless discharge lamps. Key words: hydride generation, arsenic, speciation analysis, atomic absorption spectrometry

Speciation analysis of arsenic based on selective hydride generation and detection by atomic fluorescence spectrometry have been studied in this work. It was found that under optimum conditions of atomization in the flame in gas shield atomizer, sensitivity was approximately twice higher and detection limit was about four times lower compared to miniature diffusion flame, which is a standard atomizer for atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The conditions to generate hydrides from both inorganic forms of the arsenic, i.e. from arsenite and arsenate, with the same efficiency have been found in the batch arrangement, by using 1 mol dm-3 hydrochlorid acid and 1% solution of tetrahydridoborate. To determine only trivalent form, TRIS buffer at pH 6.00 was used together with 1% sodium tetrahydridoborate. The detection limits found for inorganic arsenic, i.e. for arsenite and arsenate, respectively, were 15 ng dm-3 and 9 ng dm-3 . It was found that in the batch arrangement under these conditions it is possible to generate corresponding hydrides methylarsonate and dimethylarsonate with the same efficiency as from the inorganic form. Finally, it was found when slightly changing the gas-liquid separator design in order to introduce the mixture of tetrahydridoborate with hydrochloric acid to the bottom of the...

(EN) The presented dissertation is devoted to hydride generation from arsenic species and its application for speciation analysis based on atomic fluorescence detection. Hydride generation from toxicologically relevant arsenic species was optimized in order to achieve a 100% efficiency. The resulted experimental setup was subsequently used for speciation analysis of arsenic in human urine by high performance liquid chromatography with detection by atomic fluorescence spectrometry. The accuracy of the developed method was verified by comparative analyses of human urine samples collected from five individuals with an independent reference method. The cleavage of As-C bond during the reaction of methylated arsenic species with tetrahydridoborate(1-) (THB) in acidic media was studied in detail. Pronounced demethylation of methylated arsenic species was found during the reaction of THB with HCl, H2SO4, and HClO4 while hydride generation from CH3COOH or TRIS buffer after prereduction with L- cysteine resulted in the exclusive formation of the corresponding hydrides. Firstly, this phenomenon can endanger the accuracy of arsenic speciation which is based on hydride generation of substituted arsanes. Secondly, the more complex arsenic species can be converted to the hydride. That was demonstrated on hydride...

This master's thesis deals with optimization of conditions of chemical hydride generation of tellurium and conditions of its atomization, specifically in three types of atomizers - in a diffusion flame (DF), in a heated multiple microflame quartz tube atomizer (MMQTA) and in a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) atomizer. Tellurium hydride was generated in a flow injection arrangement and a high-resolution continuum source atomic absorption spectrometer was used for detection. As hydride generation can be only done from tetravalent species of tellurium, at first a simple procedure of pre-reduction of hexavalent species of tellurium by heating a standard in hydrochloric acid at 6 mol dm-3 was verified. Further, conditions of chemical generation were optimized with a goal to achieve as high generation efficiency as possible, namely, concentration of hydrochloric acid and sodium tetrahydroborate, volume of the reaction coil and a flow rate of carrier gas. Subsequently, conditions of atomization of tellurium hydride were examined with chosen optimal generation conditions. In the case of DF, it was an amount of hydrogen in the flame, a total flow rate of gases and observation height. In the case of MMQTA, temperature of the atomizer, a flow rate of carrier gas and a flow rate of air or oxygen needed for...

The diploma thesis is dealing with monitoring of arsenic in foodstuffs. The aim of this thesis is the determination of arsenic in samples of fish and rice and the study of forms, in which arsenic occurs, using speciation analysis. Arsenic is known as a toxic element, but its measure of toxicity depends on the chemical form it occurs in. Arsenic is present in the environment naturally or it gets in the environment by human activities. Complete characterization of arsenic compounds is necessary to understand intake, accumulation, transport, detoxification and activation of this element in the natural environment and living systems. The field of arsenic speciation analysis has grown rapidly in recent years, because determination of the total element content is not sufficient in the case of arsenic. Speciation method was done using separation by high performance liquid chromatography and detection by atomic fluorescence spectrometry with hydride generation. Extractable arsenic was present in the form of nontoxic arsenobetaine in all analysed samples of fish. In samples of rice there was confirmed the presence of toxic inorganic species of arsenic, esspecially As (III), but their concentration was at low level.

The presented thesis deals with UV-photochemical generation of volatile compounds of Se and Te from various species. The aim of the project was to expand the current state of knowledge by the application of photocatalytic reduction of higher oxidation states of Se and Te for the speciation analysis based on UV-photochemical generation of volatile compounds. The first step of the study was the assembly of the apparatus for the photocatalysed UV-photochemical generation of volatile compounds. The material of reactor and the whole experimental set-up were based on literature survey and previous research done in our research group. Experiments were directed towards finding the optimum conditions for generation of volatile compounds of selected model elements Se and Te. Se was studied as the element most commonly determined by the UV-photochemical generation of volatile compounds. Conversely, Te was selected as a model analyte representing elements forming less stable volatile compounds. The second part was the application of the optimised method of photocatalysed UV- photochemical generation of volatile Se compound to the determination of Se in water matrices, liquid certified reference materials and also samples of dietary supplements. TiO2/UV-photochemical generation was also successfully modified to...

This master's thesis deals with the optimization of conditions of chemical hydride generation (HG) of bismuth, its atomization and detection by atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS) and atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). Two types of atomizers were used for atomization of volatile species, a miniature diffusion flame for AAS as well as for AFS and a flame-in-gas-shield atomizer for AFS. At first, the parameters of HG in a flow injection mode were optimized - the concentration of hydrochloric acid, the concentration of sodium borohydride and the volume of the reaction coil. Subsequently, the atomization conditions were optimized using both atomizers. The parameters optimized were hydrogen fraction, total gas flow rate and observation height. Due to the more complicated construction of the FIGS atomizer, more parameters were studied, such as the oxygen flow rate through the capillary and the flow rate of shielding argon required for shielding the free atoms. A special part of the thesis dealt with the optimization of the optical path of the atomic fluorescence spectrometer, the selection of an interference filter and the optimization of a power supply of an electrodeless discharge lamp. It was found that under optimum conditions of generation, atomization and detection excellent detection limits...

The aim of this master's thesis has been to develop and optimize the method of UV- photochemical vapor generation of cadmium volatile compounds for atomic fluorescence spectrometry. Two configurations with different materials wrapped around the low-pressure mercury vapor lamp were tested. I experimentally determined optimal conditions for both systems; the optimalized parametres included selection of photochemical reagent and its concentration, flow rate of liquids and gases, and the lenghth of the reaction coil. After finding the optimal parametres I determined the figures of merit of the method. I found from the measured data that UV-photoreactor with the quartz capillary provided lower limits of detection and thus was more suitable for generation of cadmium volatile compounds. With this arrangement and using the ferrous sulphate heptahydrate as the chemical modifier I obtained limit of detection 2,0 µg·l-1 , limit of determination 7,0 µg·l-1 , linear dynamic rate LOD-50 µg·l-1 and repeatibility 0,35 %. I also carried out the interference study in my thesis and determined the generation effeciency of cadmium volatile compounds. The interference study shows the influence of mineral acids (HCl, H2SO4, HNO3), their salts (NaNO2, NaNO3) and transition metals (Co, Ni, Cu). Based on literature review I also...

In this diploma thesis, rubidium in plant material samples was determined by atomic absoption spectrometry. Determination of plant material rubidium was performed on two different atomic absorption spectrometers (GBC 933 AA and ContrAA 700) for comparison. The selection of a proper method of atomization was essential, therefore optimizations for the flame atomizer and electrothermal atomizer were performed. On the GBC 933 AA, flame atomization was tested. The flow rate of the acetylene-air, vertical and horizontal flame profile, spectral interval width was optimized for the instrument. On the ContrAA 700, the conditions for flame atomization were optimized as well as for electrothermal atomization. The optimized parameters included the acetylene-air flow rate and the vertical flame profile again. For the electrothermal atomization, the temperature dependence of pyrolysis and the temperature dependence of atomization were optimized. Under experimentally determined optimal conditions, the determination of rubidium in fruit and vegetable juice samples was performed by the method of calibration curve. Rubidium usually accompanies toher alkali metals. In the absence of essential biogenic elements iportant for plant growth, rubidium is able to help out and take on the role of potassium.