Abstract:

Antimony (Sb) is a metalloid element with potential toxicity and carcinogenicity, its chemical property is similar to arsenic. Sb resulting from natural processes and human activitiesis ubiquitously presents in the water and soil environment. Sb isotope ratio could not be measured precisely until the introduction of the multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MCICP- MS) in the beginning of this century. This paper reviewed the Sb pollution and species in the water and soil environment, then systematically reported the analytical methods of Sb isotopes, including the pre-concentration and separation methods and MC-ICPMS measurement techniques, as well as the fractionation mechanism and application of Sb isotopes. Finally, on this basis, the research direction of antimony was put forward, and the Sb isotope application in Sb pollution source, migration and transformation, and environmental biogeochemical cycle of Sb was proposed.

Key words: water pollution, antimony pollution, Sb isotope, isotopic tracer