HIGH-EFFICIENCY NEBULIZER FOR ARGON INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

A new pneumatically driven, high-efficiency nebulizer (HEN) is explored for argon inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (Ar ICP-MS) for elemental analysis of aqueous samples. The new nebulizer operates at very low solution uptake rates (10-100 mu l min(-1)). Analytical performance indices for nebulization with the HEN are presented for three Ar ICP-MS systems in terms of detection limits, precision, ratio of doubly charged-to-singly charged ion, oxide ion-to-analyte ion ratio, and ion kinetic energies. These characteristics also are compared with those of typical conventional pneumatic nebulizers (PN) that function at higher solution uptake rates (1-2 ml min(-1)), Detection limits (ppt) similar to those realized by conventional PNs are obtained for aqueous solution introduction. In general, short-term and long-term precision of the HEN for Ar ICP-MS are better than the results for the conventional PNs.