Jm. Craig et D. Beauchemin, CHARACTERIZATION OF INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY WITHSEGMENTED-FLOW INJECTION, Analyst, 119(8), 1994, pp. 1677-1682
The figures of merit for inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry
with flow injection were determined for a range of elements (Al, V, Cr
, Mn, Fe, Co, Ni, Cu, As, Se, Mo, Cd, Sb and Pb) using three different
carriers, water, air, and air-segmented water, for which injections w
ere made within air segments. Compared with flow injection into water,
narrower and symmetrical peaks were observed with either the air or a
ir-water carrier. The last two carriers provided twice the sample thro
ughput obtained with water, and more reproducible injections. Peak hei
ght sensitivities were enhanced by a factor of 2-5 using the air or ai
r-water carriers, but part of this enhancement was due to increased so
lution transport efficiency when air was present in the carrier. When
water as carrier was replaced by air-water, detection limits improved
by a factor of 2-6 for V, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, As, Se, and Cd, remained
about the same for Al, Co, Sb, and Pb, and were degraded by a factor
of 2 only for Mo. The water and air-water carriers showed similar memo
ry effects, reduced in comparison with the air carrier. Overall, flow
injection into the air-water carrier resulted in the best precision, s
ensitivity, and detection limits for the greatest number of elements.