Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 153, 507-510 (2008)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2008-00495-3

Trace analysis of pesticides in water using pulsed photoacoustic technique

¹ Instituto de Ingeniería, Edif. 12 Bernardo Quintana, UNAM, CP 04510, CU, México D.F., Mexico
² CCADET, Lab. de Fotofísica, UNAM, AP 70-186, CP 04510, CU, México D.F., Mexico

Abstract

Trace concentration of pesticides such as Atrazine and Methyl parathion in water solutions has harmful health effects. In this work a methodology to detect trace concentrations for both pesticides has been developed. The pesticide solution contained into a quartz cell is irradiated by a pulsed laser at λ = 230 nm, this energy is absorbed depending on the pesticide concentration; the non absorbed light that sample allows to pass is absorbed by the NaCl:Mn²⁺ doped single crystal fixed to a piezoelectric sensor of 5 MHz to obtain the photo- acoustic (PA) signal. The results showed that is possible to detect concentrations around tenths of ng/l.