Effect of metal substrate temperature on the determination of trace metal elements in water by combined LIBS with electro-deposition

Abstract

This study combined the electro-deposition (ED) method with laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) to detect trace metal Pb and Cr elements in water. First, the trace metal Pb and Cr elements in water were enriched to the surface of the Al metal substrate by the ED method. The effect of the Al substrate temperature (ST) on the emission intensity of Pb and Cr atoms was investigated. The emission of Pb and Cr atoms increased with increasing the Al ST. Second, the effect of Al ST on the quantitative analysis of Pb and Cr elements was studied. Moreover, the limit of detection (LOD) was calculated by the Long & Winefordner formula. Interestingly, as the Al ST increased from 25 °C to 200 °C, the LODs of Pb and Cr elements decreased from 17 and 12 ng mL⁻¹ to 12 and 5 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. Finally, the effect of Al ST on the detection accuracy of Pb and Cr elements in water was discussed. The discussion indicated that the accuracy of the quantitative analysis of Pb and Cr elements improved substantially by increasing the Al ST. Therefore, the study suggests that increasing the Al ST can enhance the detection ability and accuracy of trace metal elements in an aqueous solution by LIBS.