Acceleration of Vaporization, Atomization, and Ionization Efficiencies in Inductively Coupled Plasma by Merging Laser-Ablated Particles with Hydrochloric Acid Gas

Abstract

To accelerate the vaporization, atomization, and ionization efficiencies in laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, we merged HCl gas with laser-ablated particles before introduction into the plasma, to convert their surface constituents from oxides to lower-melting chlorides. When particles were merged with HCl gas generated from a HCl solution at 200 C, the measured concentrations of elements in the particles were 135% higher on average than the concentrations in particles merged with ultrapure water vapor. Particle corrosion and surface roughness were observed by scanning electron microscopy, and oxide conversion to chlorides was confirmed by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. Under the optimum conditions, the recoveries of measured elements improved by 23% on average, and the recoveries of elements with high-melting oxides (Sr, Zr, and Th) improved by as much as 36%. These results indicate that vaporization, atomization, and ionization in the ICP improved when HCl gas was merged with the ablated particles.

Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry

“…They improved vaporization, atomization, and ionization efficiencies of elements in a glass material by merging ablated particles with HCl gas. 2 Quantitative analysis in LA-ICP-MS is more complex than that in solution nebulization ICP-MS. Zhu Based on the analytical results, the measured elements were classified into two groups. The laser ablation can be utilized for isotope ratio determination.…”