Speciation study of the heavy metals in commercially available recharge cards coatings in Nigeria and the health implication

This work assessed levels of heavy metals exposure from silver coatings of mobile phones recharge cards of three major companies (designated as A, B and C) with price denominations [Image: see text] 100, [Image: see text] 200 and [Image: see text] 400 from companies A, B and C respectively, which were carefully scratched using a plastic scraper into a glass tube. The coatings were acid digested for total metal concentration, while speciation experiment for Mn, Cu, Cd and Pb was carried out. Total metals and speciation analysis were done using AAS and XRF techniques. The total metal concentration from XRF analysis was in the range: Ca (70–2140 μg/g), K (20–4930 μg/g), Sc (80–270 μg/g), Ti (1530–12,580 μg/g), Fe (50–6660 μg/g), Ni (20–2040 μg/g), Cu (20–850 μg/g) and Zn (40–460 μg/g). Cr had the lowest concentration (10 μg/g) in A ([Image: see text] 400) while Ti had the highest concentration (12,580 μg/g) in C ([Image: see text] 500) for all the coatings analyzed. AAS and XRF results agreed closely except for Fe with higher concentration. A ([Image: see text] 100) contained high concentration of the metals compared with others. Speciation study identified Mn as the most mobile element when present in the environment.