Issue 5, 2024

Quantification capabilities of N2 MICAP-MS with solution nebulization and aerosol desolvation

Abstract

The analytical capabilities of a nitrogen-sustained high-power microwave inductively coupled atmospheric-pressure plasma mass spectrometer (N2 MICAP-MS) were investigated using solution nebulization with and without aerosol desolvation. The reduced solvent load for the desolvated aerosol and the increased aerosol transfer resulted in a signal enhancement of ten times for most elements in samples without a significant amount of dissolved solids. An exception was boron, whose signal decreased by a factor of seven when a desolvator was used. To compare the accuracy, reproducibility, and matrix susceptibility of the N2 MICAP-MS, the mass fractions of 30 elements were determined in two certified water reference materials using external calibration and standard addition. The results were generally found to agree within 10% of the certified reference values with a maximum deviation of 17% in the case of 64Zn. Comparing external calibration and standard addition provided comparable results regardless of the sample introduction method. To assess the extent of matrix effects, multi-element standard solutions were doped with amounts of up to 100 mg kg−1 calcium. This resulted in a signal suppression of up to 30% and 70% for conventional nebulization and aerosol desolvation, respectively. This substantially reduced the improvement in sensitivity observed for the desolvated aerosol. To further investigate the fundamental characteristics of the N2 MICAP-MS, the plasma gas temperature was estimated using three methods. The determined temperatures for the two most reliable methods were in the range of ∼5000–6000 K and were found to be independent of the sample introduction method and similar to those of an Ar ICP.

Graphical abstract: Quantification capabilities of N2 MICAP-MS with solution nebulization and aerosol desolvation

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
16 Feb 2024
Accepted
21 Mar 2024
First published
25 Mar 2024
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY-NC license

J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2024,39, 1388-1397

Quantification capabilities of N2 MICAP-MS with solution nebulization and aerosol desolvation

M. Kuonen, B. Hattendorf and D. Günther, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2024, 39, 1388 DOI: 10.1039/D4JA00058G

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