Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy application in environmental monitoring of water quality: a review

Abstract

Water quality monitoring is a critical part of environmental management and protection, and to be able to qualitatively and quantitatively determine contamination and impurity levels in water is especially important. Compared to the currently available water quality monitoring methods and techniques, laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has several advantages, including no need for sample pre-preparation, fast and easy operation, and chemical free during the process. Therefore, it is of great importance to understand the fundamentals of aqueous LIBS analysis and effectively apply this technique to environmental monitoring. This article reviews the research conducted on LIBS analysis for liquid samples, and the article content includes LIBS theory, history and applications, quantitative analysis of metallic species in liquids, LIBS signal enhancement methods and data processing, characteristics of plasma generated by laser in water, and the factors affecting accuracy of analysis results. Although there have been many research works focusing on aqueous LIBS analysis, detection limit and stability of this technique still need to be improved to satisfy the requirements of environmental monitoring standard. In addition, determination of nonmetallic species in liquid by LIBS is equally important and needs immediate attention from the community. This comprehensive review will assist the readers to better understand the aqueous LIBS technique and help to identify current research needs for environmental monitoring of water quality.

Fast and Simultaneous Determination of Soil Properties Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS): A Case Study of Typical Farmland Soils in China

“…The LIBS technique has many merits for sample analysis, including the fact that it is rapid, less destructive, cost-effective, environmentally friendly, little to no sample preparation is required, and simultaneous multi-element detection can be achieved [11][12][13]. Because of these outstanding advantages, the LIBS technique has been widely applied in various fields including space exploration [14][15][16], geological surveying [11,17,18], archaeological investigation [19][20][21], environmental monitoring [22][23][24][25], materials characterization [26][27][28], food detection [29][30][31], agriculture monitoring [32][33][34], and industry monitoring [35,36].…”

Laser Induced-Breakdown Spectroscopy (Libs): Histórico, Fundamentos, Aplicações E Potencialidades

“…Esse crescimento está atrelado às características atraentes da técnica, como a possibilidade de análise direta com mínimo ou nenhum preparo da amostra, a possibilidade de análise in situ, e a sua capacidade multielementar. As aplicações da LIBS podem ser notadas a partir das publicações de artigos de revisão em áreas específicas como: agricultura, 143 alimentos, 144 ambiental, 145 biológicas, 146 farmacêuticas, 147 forense, 148 metalúrgica 149 e resíduos eletrônicos. 5 Assim, as áreas de atuação referidas serão abordadas e os mais recentes avanços da LIBS para análise de diversas amostras serão apresentados.…”

Quantitative Determination of Cd in Soil Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy in Air and Ar Conditions

“…Specifically, the plasma is firstly produced when the laser ablates the sample, then the qualitative and quantitative determination of elements can be carried out by analysing spectral signals emitted by the plasma [ 13 ]. Due to the advantages of fast analytical speed, simple sample pre-treatment, multi-element simultaneous detection, and in-situ detection capability [ 14 ], it has been widely used for element analysis in various fields, such as environmental monitoring [ 15 ], industrial analysis [ 16 ], bio-medicine [ 17 ]. However, the high detection limit of elements has always been a difficult problem to restrict the application of LIBS [ 18 ].…”