An ionized gas at several thousand kelvin, most often an inductively coupled argon plasma, forms the atomization and excitation (or ionization) source that defines plasma spectrometry. A liquid or solid sample is introduced as an aerosol or vapor; the plasma desolvates, atomizes, and ionizes the analyte, after which either optical emission from excited atoms and ions or the ions themselves are measured [1]. The same plasma can therefore serve atomic emission spectrometry or mass spectrometry, and the two readouts are distinct plasma-spectrometric techniques rather than a single detector [2]. Conceptual boundaries exclude chemical-flame spectrometry, glow-discharge sources at low pressure, and laser-induced breakdown plasmas that are not a continuous inductively coupled discharge. Essential features are a radiofrequency or related energy coupling that sustains the plasma, a sample-introduction system whose transport efficiency affects the signal, and a spectroscopic or mass-spectrometric observation of species produced in the plasma [3]. Sensitivity differences among oxidation states, as between As(III) and As(V), arise from unequal nebulization and atomization behavior in the plasma rather than from a change in the spectrometric principle [4].
- plasma spectrometry
- inductively coupled plasma
- atomic emission
- elemental analysis
Analytical chemistry methods development • Analytical Chemistry • Chemistry • Physical Sciences
References
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- Francisco Ardini; Francesco Soggia; Francesco Rugi; Roberto Udisti; Marco Grotti; Comparison of inductively coupled plasma spectrometry techniques for the direct determination of rare earth elements in digests from geological samples. Anal. Chim. Acta 2010, 678, 18-25, 10.1016/j.aca.2010.07.036.
- S. Groh; P. K. Diwakar; C. C. Garcia; A. Murtazin; D. W. Hahn; K. Niemax; 100% Efficient Sub-Nanoliter Sample Introduction in Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy and Inductively Coupled Plasma Spectrometry: Implications for Ultralow Sample Volumes. Anal. Chem. 2010, 82, 2568-2573, 10.1021/ac901966z.
- T Narukawa; T Kuroiwa; K Chiba; Mechanism of sensitivity difference between trivalent inorganic As species [As(III)] and pentavalent species [As(V)] with inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. Talanta 2007, 73, 157-165, 10.1016/j.talanta.2007.03.021.