Quantitative determination of copper in a glass matrix using double pulse laser induced breakdown and electron paramagnetic resonance spectroscopic techniques

Abstract

A series of lithium–lead–borate glasses of a variable copper oxide loading were quantitatively analyzed in this work using two distinct spectroscopic techniques, namely double pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (DP-LIBS) and electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR). DP-LIBS results measured upon a combined nanosecond lasers irradiation running at 266nm and 1064nm pulses of a collinear configuration directed to the surface of borate glass samples with a known composition. This arrangement was employed to predict the electron's temperature (Te) and density (Ne) of the excited plasma from the recorded spectra.The intensity of elements' responses using this scheme is higher than that of single-pulse laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (SP-LIBS) setup under the same experimental conditions. On the other hand, the EPR data shows typical Cu (II) EPR-signals in the borate glass system that is networked at a distorted tetragonal Borate-arrangement. The signal intensity of the Cu (II) peak at g⊥=2.0596 has been used to quantify the Cu-content accurately in the glass matrix. Both techniques produced linear calibration curves of Cu-metals in glasses with excellent linear regression coefficient (R2) values. This study establishes a good correlation between DP-LIBS analysis of glass and the results obtained using EPR spectroscopy. The proposed protocols prove the great advantage of DP-LIBS system for the detection of a trace copper on the surface of glasses.