Publication details
Selection of internal standards for the determination of major and minor elements in silicate rocks and limestones by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 1997 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Applied Spectroscopy |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Analytic chemistry |
| Keywords | Inductively coupled plasma; Atomic emission spectrometry; Laser ablation; Geological samples; Internal standardization |
| Description | Use of contained and added internal standards has been compared in laser ablation ICP-AES of silicate rocks and limestones to improv e both precision and accuracy. Glass disks obtained by fusion of rocks with lithium tetraborate were sampled by means of a Q-switched Nd:YAG laser (355 nm, 10 Hz, 10 mJ per shot) and analyzed with an ICP emission spectrometer equipped with a segmented charge-coupled device detector. The Si and Ca major elements of the silicate and limestone samples, respectively, were compared with the Li and B Bus elements for internal standardization. A 2- to 5-times improvement in the percent relative standard deviation (%RSD) of the repeatability was found, irrespective of the internal standard, leading to a repeatability in the 1-2% RSD range. On the basis of the use of Li and B as internal standards, linear calibration graphs were obtained for Si, Al, Ca, Mg, Fe, Ti, Na, and K by using reference geological materials. The possibility of using Bus elements overcomes the need to have prior knowledge of the concentration when a contained element is being used as an internal standard. |