Anodic electrodissolution: a low-cost alternative for carbon steel sample preparation for quantification of metals by ICP-MS.

A fast and low-cost method using electrolysis for sample preparation of carbon steel present in weld electrodes aiming to achieve quantification of heavy metals by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was developed. Conditions of the electrolysis, such as pH and electrical charge were investigated to improve the solubility and concentration of the analytes in the electrolyte. The method showed high reproducibility, with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of less than 3.