Direct determination of 25 elements in dry powdered plant materials by X-ray fluorescence spectrometry

Abstract

An X-ray fluorescence spectrometric (XRF) method has been developed for the direct determination of Na, Mg, Al, Si, P, S, K, Cl, Ca, Ti, Mn, Fe, Cu, Ni, Zn, Pb, Rb, Sr, Mo, Ba, Br, V, Cr, Co and As in plant samples using the pressed powder pellet technique, which uses 1 g of the dry powdered material. Correction for the inter-element absorption effects is performed by using scattered line as an internal standard. The method is simple, rapid and cost-effective. The accuracy of the results tested with reference materials is excellent and comparable to the results obtained by XRF method using a more laborious ashing technique.