Modification of a commercial electrothermal vaporisation system for inductively coupled plasma spectrometry: evaluation and matrix effects

Abstract

The development and analytical utility of an electrothermal vaporisation technique (ETV) employing a Perkin-Elmer HGA-500 graphite furnace for sample introduction into the inductively coupled plasma (ICP) are assessed. Evaluation of a novel configuration with custom graphite cuvettes is described. Operational characteristics, including the effect of the length of the transport tube to the ICP torch, vaporisation temperature, carrier argon flow-rate, observation height above the coil and plasma power, are investigated. Detection limits for Be, Cd, Co, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb and Zn ranged from 0.6 to 20 ng ml^–1 with precision varying from 1.2 to 8.5% RSD at 300 ng ml^–1(3 µl). The effects of major biological matrix constituents (Ca, Fe, K, Mg, Na and P) on the determination of trace elements by ETV-ICP is also investigated. Significant enhancement and/or suppression of the analyte emission is observed.