Method
Inorganic elemental analysis deals with the identification and quantification of various chemical elements of the periodic table in liquid and solid samples. For this, we mainly employ an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). This instrument allows a multi-element determination of ultra-traces of most metals and several non-metals. A collision reaction interface (CRI) substantially reduces interfering molecular ions, which enables the analysis of elements such as iron and selenium, which are hardly measurable with ICP-MS without CRI. Samples are fed to the instrument as aqueous solutions. Solid materials can be prepared using microwave digestion. For the determination of anions, we apply an ion chromatography (IC) with conductivity detection.
Examples of applications
- Elemental analysis of liquids and solids
- Heavy metals in environmental samples
- Anions in aqueous matrices
