Ja. Horner et Gm. Hieftje, COMPUTERIZED SIMULATION OF MIXED-SOLUTE-PARTICLE VAPORIZATION IN AN INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA, Spectrochimica acta, Part B: Atomic spectroscopy, 53(6-8), 1998, pp. 1235-1259
The mechanism of matrix interference in ICP spectrometry has been prob
ed by incorporation of the droplet-desolvation and solute-particle vap
orization processes in a computer simulation of the ICP. Two types of
simulation have been carried out: single-aerosol droplet studies, and
many-droplet studies. The first type of calculation is used to examine
the response of the vaporization kinetics to changes in plasma proper
ties (central channel flow rate and forward power) and to aerosol prop
erties (initial droplet diameter, concentration of interferent, and th
ermal and physical properties of the interferent). From these studies,
the dominant mechanism for solute-particle vaporization in the ICP is
small-particle mass transfer. In addition, the height in the plasma a
t which a solute-particle has completely vaporized is related roughly
linearly to the initial diameter of the aerosol droplet, linearly to t
he central channel flow rate, inversely to the forward power, and to t
he square root of interferent concentration. The second type of calcul
ation is a many-droplet simulation for direct comparison with experime
ntal results. Ground state atom and ion number densities have been cal
culated by simulation of plasma properties, aerosol desolvation and va
porization, and flow and diffusion of the analyte vapor. These studies
indicate that if early vaporization and lateral diffusion are dominan
t reasons for the interelement interference las experiments have sugge
sted) then one (or both) of two things must also be true. First, the l
imiting mechanism of vaporization predicted by theory may be incorrect
, since the small-particle mass-transfer rate constants for all interf
erents are lower than or equal to that for CaCl2, the analyte. Also, l
iberation of the EIE below the load coil may raise the gas temperature
along the central channel, consistent with experimental results; this
rise causes an increase in the rate of desolvation and possibly vapor
ization. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.