Analysis of alumina based catalysts by LA-ICP-AES using a Lina-Spark™ atomizer

Abstract

Direct analysis of solid sample is an important challenge in elemental analysis as the digestion step for solution analysis by ICP-MS (or AES) is time and reagent consuming, with a risk of error through the contamination of reagents. The determination of platinum, tin and indium in alumina-based catalysts was evaluated using LA-ICP-AES hyphenation. The studied laser ablation system was a high energy Lina-Spark™ Atomizer, based on a Nd:YAG laser operated at 1064 nm with the laser beam focused within the target. Pellets were compacted with no binder: a Teflon support was found suitable for sample deposition in order to reduce the amount of catalyst powder employed for an analysis. Ablation repeatability and reproducibility were found to be improved (i.e., RSD < 4%) using a low granulometry powder (<100 μm) and a normalization of the signal with respect to Al. The comparison of the standard additions method and external calibration has led to a better accuracy using external calibration (1–30%).