Multielement analysis of water residue: A PIXE measurement

Abstract

A multielement PIXE method has been developed to analyse water residue obtained by evaporation technique. In this analysis, 250 ml of water sample mixed with 200 mg of cellulose powder is evaporated on steam bath in a platinum dish. From the residue thus obtained standard pellets are made for proton irradiation to excite characteristic X-rays. Proton irradiations were performed with 2.5 MeV beams with 20 nA intensity and the characteristic X-rays were detected with a high resolution Si(Li) detector and processed by standard electronics. A synthetic standard of cellulose matrix for concentration calibration was prepared by adding different elements from atomic absorption standards and homogeneously mixing them with the matrix with methanol.