Effect of nitric acid, acetic acid and ethanol on inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric ion signals as a function of nebuliser gas flow, with implications on matrix suppression and enhancements

Abstract

The effect of the solvent on the ion signals of a commercially available SCIEX inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer was studied as a function of nebuliser gas flow. A solvent of 1% nitric acid was compared with solutions containing, in addition to nitric acid, 1% acetic acid, 12% acetic acid, 1% ethanol and 12% ethanol. The nebuliser gas flow that produced the maximum intensity decreased from 1.29 l min^–1 in 1% nitric acid, to 1.27 l min^–1 in 1% acetic acid, to 1.12 l min^–1 in 1% ethanol, to 1.01 l min^–1 in 12% acetic acid and to 0.85 l min^–1 in 12% ethanol. The implications of this shift (matrix effect) is that a signal suppression, no effect or a signal enhancement is observed as the solvent is changed, depending on the operating conditions used.