Elemental imaging method based on a dielectric barrier discharge probe coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

An elemental imaging method based on a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) probe as a sputtering source coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been demonstrated. The DBD probe is simple to construct and the discharge power for producing micro plasma jet at ambient condition is as low as 3.75 W. To investigate the sputtering process, the major operating parameters of this technique are demonstrated by detecting Na-23, (27)A1, Si-29, Ca-44, Mn-55 and Fe-57 in rock standard reference materials GBW07108. The reproducibility of the parallel detection was 1% (n = 7) for Hg in ABS sample was obtained. Based on these conditions, the elemental imaging is successfully obtained in the lead-based glaze ceramic witho Pb-206, Pb-207 and Pb-208, Chinese seal script with Hg-202 and siliceous stromatolites with Al-27, Si-29, and Ca-44. When the 100 mu m capillary was used to ablate the ABS sample, the washout time of 600 ms for Hg was obtained, and the spatial resolution of 106 mu m was obtained. In addition, the potential quantitative analysis of this method has been studied, which provide the detection limits of ABS samples with 252 mu g g(-1) for Cr-52, 24 mu g g(-1) for Hg-202 and 167 mu g g(-1) for Pb-208, respectively. The present imaging method has the unique capabilities of multi-elemental analysis, easy set-up and low consumption, which may serve as a complementary technology for current elemental imaging technology.