Study on the Simultaneous Determination of Different Volatile Elements in High Purity Zirconium Dioxide by In situ Matrix Removal and ETV-ICP-MS

In this work, a novel method was developed for the simultaneous determination of different volatile elements (refractory Cr, medium volatile Cu, and easily volatile Cd) in high purity zirconium dioxide (ZrO2) by in situ matrix removal and electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ETV-ICP-MS). A polytetrafluoroethylene slurry (PTFE) as a chemical modifier not only enhanced the difference in the volatility between the analytes and the matrix for in situ matrix removal, but also results in their similar vaporization behaviors of the different volatile elements (Cr, Cu, and Cd) for their simultaneous determination. Under optimum operating conditions, the detection limits (DLs) for Cr, Cu, and Cd were 2.5, 9.8, and 3.4 ng g(-1) with relative standard deviations (RSDs) of less than 6.2%, respectively. The calibration graphs of the analytes were linear over three orders of magnitude. This method was applied to the simultaneous determination of the different volatile elements Cr, Cu, and Cd in high purity ZrO2, and the results were in good agreement with those obtained by conventional pneumatic nebulization (PN) ICP-MS after separation of the matrix with a solvent extraction procedure.