Detection of lanthanides and actinides in solutions based on laser-induced luminescence and chemiluminescence

Abstract

This work is devoted to applications of the time-resolved laser- induced luminescence spectroscopy and time-resolved laser-induced chemiluminescence spectroscopy for detection of lanthanides and actinides. The limit of detection (LOD) of some lanthanides and actinides in solutions by the time-resolved laser luminescence spectroscopy is up to 10−13 mole/liter. Unfortunately, Pu, Np, and some U compounds do not produce luminescence in solutions, but when excited by laser radiation, they can induce chemiluminescence. The characteristics of chemiluminescence induced by excited lanthanide and actinide complexes in solutions are considered. A key problem of chemiluminescence application for lanthanide and actinide detection in solutions is the increase of the detection selectivity. This problem can be solved by using the multistep schemes of chemiluminescence excitation. It is shown that the time-resolved luminescence laser spectroscopy and chemiluminescence laser spectroscopy can be successfully used for detection of lanthanides and actinides in solutions.