Effect of analyte and solvent transport on signal intensities in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

• Published in: Spectrochimica acta. Part B: Atomic spectroscopy 1992-05, Vol.47 (5), p.659-673
• Main Authors: Browner, Richard F., Canals, Antonio, Hernandis, Vicente
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Analytical chemistry; Chemistry; Exact sciences and technology; Spectrometric and optical methods
• ISSN: 0584-8547; 1873-3565
• DOI: 10.1016/0584-8547(92)80060-T

Aerosols generated with several different nebulizers have been characterized by their major aerosol characteristics, namely the Sauter mean drop diameter, D 3,2, the analyte mass transport, W tot, the solvent mass transport, S tot, the analyte transport efficiency, ϵ n, and the solvent transport efficiency, ϵ s. These characteristic aerosol parameters have been compared with the magnitudes of analytical signals, I net, generated in an inductively coupled plasma, in order to examine the possible existence of interrelationships between them. For three of the nebulizers tested, a reasonably linear correlation between W tot and I net was observed with water as solvent. For the fourth, a crossflow-type nebulizer, which produced a tertiary aerosol with a significantly larger mean drop size than the other nebulizers, the relationship between W tot and I net was not linear. For the organic solvents tested, methanol and n-butanol, solvent/plasma interactions were sufficiently strong as to make the relationship between W tot and I net quite complex.