Abstract
The use of electrothermal vaporization(ETV) as a means of sample introduction provided a lot of advantages over conventional pneumatic nebulization for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Compared with the nebulization method, the ETV system needs smaller sample volume and higher sample transport efficiency can be attained.
Application of the ETV system for ICP-AES made it possible to improve the detection limits of Al, Cr, Cu with sufficient precisions. Vaporization behavior of Cu in the presence of a large excess of Fe considerably depended on the heating program and the amount of Fe. Copper in pure iron reference materials were successfully determined by controlling the heating program and matrix matching of calibration standards.
For ICP-MS, spectral interferences arising from water and/or acids in sample solution were removed with the ETV system. Rapid scan monitoring capability of ICP-MS made it possible to do multielemental analysis. Sufficient sensitivity equivalent to the nebulization method was attained for the simultaneous measurement of twenty five elements, but precisions were poor because the signals obtained with the ETV were transient and optimum heating programs were different for each element.
