A new certified reference material for the quality control of palladium, road dust, BCR-723

Certified Reference Materials (CRMs) represent a key tool for-the quality control of chemical analyses. The demand for environmental materials is constantly increasing in complex analytical fields, and the European Commission (EC) (through the Measurements & Testing Generic Activity) is responding to the urgent needs for materials requiring collaborative efforts at the international level. This paper describes the preparation of a new road-dust material (BCR-723), along with homogeneity and stability studies and the analytical work performed for the certification of the contents of palladium, platinum and rhodium, under the ECs PACEPAC project, PACEPAC being the acronym for "Production And CErtification of a road dust reference material for Platinum, palladium and rhodium used in Automotive Catalytic converters". (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.