Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in the analysis of metals, chemicals and materials

Abstract

This update covers the literature published between approximately June 2022 and April 2023 and is the latest part of a series of annual reviews. It is designed to provide the reader with an overview of the current state of the art with respect to the atomic spectrometric analysis of various metals, chemicals and materials. Advances have been made in several areas. For cultural heritage scientists, it is worth noting that, after many years of inserting analytical data into chemometric tools in an attempt to elucidate provenance, several free to use algorithms that take an inexperienced analyst through the entire process have been developed. It is envisaged that such algorithms will also be developed for forensic samples. In other areas, there has been a big increase in papers reporting methods for analysing coals, with many of these applications employing LIBS. This increase is presumably a result of the use of coal increasing rapidly in some countries. The use of LIBS for analyses is still growing in many areas. For ferrous and non-ferrous metals, the development of more reliable calibration strategies for LIBs has been a common theme. The standoff ability of LIBS has also been put to good use in the nuclear industry and for the detection of explosives. Waste management of assorted materials, e.g. polymers, metals, etc. has also used LIBS analyses, often used in conjunction with chemometric data analysis tools.