X-ray fluorescence in Member States (Spain): Main activities related to the use of XRF techniques at the Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Research Group of the University of Girona (UdG)

The Analytical and Environmental Chemistry Group (QAA) is a consolidated research group of the Department of Chemistry of the University of Girona (North- East Spain). The main research topics of the group are related to the development and application of analytical methodologies for the determination of inorganic and organic species in different kind of environmental, clinical and industrial samples. From the beginning of the 2000's, one of the research focuses of the group, is the use of X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) for the determination of trace amounts of metals and metalloids mostly in samples related to the environmental and industrial fields. For instance, in collaboration with the Institute of Earth Sciences "Jaume Almera" (ICTJA-CSIC, Spain), we have developed and successfully applied several analytical approaches based on the use of EDXRF (Energy dispersive XRF), WDXRF (Wavelength dispersive XRF) and PEDXRF (Polarised EDXRF) for the determination of metals at trace levels in complex liquid samples such as sea water or electroplating waters in vegetation samples collected around mining environments or in active pharmaceutical ingredients. At present, the evaluation of the analytical possibilities of TXRF (Total reflection XRF) in the chemical analysis field is also one of the research topics of QAA. In this sense, several contributions related to the use of this technique for element determination in liquid and solid samples have been developed. A summary of these contributions is summarized in the last section of this review