Radioluminescence detector for the flow injection determination of phosphorus as vanadomolybdophosphoric acid

A radioluminescent light source has been used in a detector for the how inj ection (FI) determination of phosphorus by means of the vanadomolybdophosph oric (VMP) acid spectrophotometric method. A comparison with previous studi es in which lamp-based instrumentation was utilized proves that radiolumine scence (RL) is a viable alternative source. RL enables the design of compac t, inexpensive light sources for spectroscopic studies. Through the selecti on of a radioisotope and scintillation medium, the spectral and temporal ch aracteristics of the source can be chosen independently. In this study, a b roadband radioluminescent source provided detection limits similar to those of conventional lamp-based detectors while increasing the dynamic range of the method. Possible interferences caused by the use of a broadband light source have been explored as a function of the spectral region employed. (C ) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.