The best methode I have tried is ICP-AES

The simplest method would be based on coordination with a ligand and measurement of absorption at a suitable wavelength.  Other more instrumental methods include inductively coupled plasma-optical emission, atomic absorption or ICP-mass spectrometry.

The choice of method will depend on the concentration you are trying to measure and nyour budget.  A google scholar search should identify specific methods.

You can use  sulphonated porphyrin like TPPS by boiling the solution and the ligand and checking the soret band by spectrophotometry. TPPS is on sale on most common companies.

In our department we use the ICPMS

A budget-friendly method is voltammetry. It is very accurate and the detection limit is comparable to the ICP-MS. With some optimization you could measure copper in your samples with very little preprocessing. See also the following paper for more ideas.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003267008018242

how about copper-ion selctive electrode with lower detection limit

 Kindly refer to the link.

www.hach.com/asset-get.download.jsa?id=7639984473

Simplified Testing for Lead and Copper in Drinking Water

Technical Information Series—Booklet No. 19

By Charles R. Gibbs

Hi,

For me, ICP-MS is expensive but it works very well for copper, we use it for analyse this element in urine with a quantification limit around 20 ppb.

It works also well with atomic absorbtion but it is less selective.

Good luck!

Sébastien

Hi,

Classical methods may not help you in finding ppb level of Cu in water. ICP-MS is a good bet for this LOQ. It is not that expensive You can test one sample for about $100. 

Good Luck.

Shreekant

The electrochemical detection can be very sensitive and you can probably build a sensor using a bread board system a bit of wire and a small battery.  You will also need an ohm meter to get the quantitation.  The spectroscopic methods can be pretty good and you can generate a calibration curve for visual quantitation - eye ball the amount.

Do you have test ICPMS and collision cell or HR-ICPMS ?

AAS would probably be one of the simpler and more classical methods, and detection in the ppb range has been done for copper. But depending on your instrument set-up, and the actual concentration of your sample, that may be pushing the boundaries of AAS detection.

I would recommend ICP-MS, as Thierry suggested. The collision cell might be useful for removal of interferences -not sure if that is necessary. I suspect that you probably don't have an ICP-MS, but maybe another lab with an ICP-MS can do the samples for you. If the Ci is not in the low ppb range, but rather in the 50 to 200 ppb, then ICP-OES might also work, if the instrument is well optinised and you increase the integration time etc.

Dear Mr Nauman, recently, I tested a simple method for determination copper (II) ions in water at ppm level, but the method can get ppb level if you use the best conditions (ppb level reagents, 18 Mohms water, clean glasses, etc). The method consists on the reduction of brilliant cresyl blue by ascorbic acid which is catalyzed by copper (II) ions. This is a kinetic spectrophotometry method with measurement at 624 nm.  See the paper: H.I. Ulusoy, R. Gürkan, M. Akçay, Kinetic spectrophotometric determination of trace copper (II) ions by their catalytic effect on the reduction of brilliant cresyl blue by ascorbic acid. Turk. J. Chem. 35 (2011) 599-612. However, I adapted it for my conditions, but I had sucess. If you will have any doubt, I can help you. Good lucky.

infact we dont have ICP-MS in our lab, and mostly i have around 20 samples per days for analysis which is infact not possible to analyze from others lab as its costly as well as it takes time.. so i just wana find some cost effective technique or instrument which we can purchase may be,,, and it can detect may be as low as 50 ppb with accuracy

Mr. Nauman

I don't know what if purchasing another instrument is the answer to your problem.  I 

Hello Ahmed:

As already mentioned, modern spectrometric techniques such as ICPMS/ES are the most suitable.  However, you don’t seem to have access, and you seem to prefer to do your measurement in-house.

You also seem to be equipped to determine Cu by ion chromatography, except that the interference from high Na, and the low levels detection of Cu seem to be your problem.  You may consider the following possibility:

You can have a simple ion-exchange separation of Cu from Na, to remove your high Na as well as to pre-concentrate Cu (for lower limit of detection).  As you are interested in only Cu, and that Na does not retain easily, setting up and optimising such a system (using a simple cation-exchange resin such Chelex-100) should be quite simple and cheap. You may even use plastic pipette tips for testing (there are commercially available disposable columns for this purpose). Then you can inject the eluate (preconcentrated Cu) into your ion-chromatography system which already has the detection system.  Please try to avoid glass and use plastic-ware as much as possible.

Best wishes

Thanks for the worthy suggestion...

Use the neocuproine method; very sensitive and quite easy. Standard Methods 3500-Cu. You can easily run 20 samples in under an hour.