DETERMINATION OF METALS IN AIRBORNE PARTICLES BY ELECTROTHERMAL VAPORIZATION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY AFTER ACCUMULATION BY ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATION
Ba. Bitterli et al., DETERMINATION OF METALS IN AIRBORNE PARTICLES BY ELECTROTHERMAL VAPORIZATION INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY AFTER ACCUMULATION BY ELECTROSTATIC PRECIPITATION, Journal of analytical atomic spectrometry, 12(9), 1997, pp. 957-961
A method to determine metals in airborne particles by electrothermal v
aporization ICP-MS after sampling by electrostatic precipitation into
a graphite tube is described. A mobile sampler was used to collect sam
ples. Calibration was performed with dried aerosol produced by the neb
ulization of a standard solution, For Cr, Fe, Mn, Cu, Zn, Sr, Cd, Sb,
Ba and Pb, the absolute detection limits were in the picogram range, T
he high sensitivity allowed the monitoring of several metals in ambien
t air with a time resolution of hours, The precision was 10-15%, The a
ddition of 5 mu g g(-1) of Na (as NaNO3) to the standard solutions imp
roved the signal intensities and reduced the curvature of the calibrat
ion curves, The influence of CHF3 was investigated but subsequently ab
andoned owing to a general increase not only of the signals but also o
f the background.