Evaluation of a microconcentric nebuliser–cyclonic spray chamber for flow injection simultaneous multielement inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Abstract

Merits of a micro concentric nebuliser and a cyclonic spray chamber for sample introduction to simultaneous multielement inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) were evaluated. Sample delivery was both continuous and by flow injection (FI). All signal profiles were acquired and processed in the time-resolved mode. At solvent flow rates of 0.1 and 1.0 ml min^–1, solvent transport efficiency to the ICP is about 90 and 50%, respectively. As a consequence, improvements in detection limits were observed compared with those using a conventional concentric nebuliser. Application of Sc as an internal standard to improve precision with FI sample delivery was also studied.