Improved determination of technologically critical elements in sediment digests by ICP-MS/MS using N2O as a reaction gas
- 19 May 2021
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC) in Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry
- Vol. 36 (7), 1524-1532
- https://doi.org/10.1039/d1ja00088h
Abstract
The investigation of technologically critical elements (TCEs) as emerging pollutants is a constantly growing field of environmental research and societal concern. Nevertheless, existing data for most TCEs are still unsatisfactory for an accurate assessment of their potential (eco)toxicological effects on humans and the environment. The limited availability of data mainly results from the technical challenging analysis of selected TCEs. Low concentrations of TCEs in environmental matrices (µg kg-1 or lower) and the associated complex and time-consuming sample preparation pose the greatest challenges. This work aims at developing a new ICP-MS/MS-based multi-elemental approach targeting the analysis of all major TCEs (Sc, Ga, Ge, Nb, In, Te, La, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Yb, Lu, Ta) in sediment, which represents one of the most important matrices for environmental research. N2O is applied as reaction gas to overcome possible spectral interferences during ICP-MS/MS analysis. The use of N2O as reaction gas for ICP-MS/MS analysis enabled higher oxide-product ion yields for many TCEs in comparison to the frequently used O2 cell gas. Hence, selectivity and sensitivity of the method were improved. The presented multi-element method using N2O as reaction gas achieved LOQs between 0.0014 µg L-1 (Lu) and 0.40 µg L-1 (Ga) for all analyzed TCEs. Likewise, for all analyzed elements, except for Te, recoveries between 80% and 112% were obtained for at least one of the analyzed reference materials (GBW 07313, GBW 07311, and BCR-2).This publication has 30 references indexed in Scilit:
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