The effect of acid digestion technique on the performance of nebulization systems used in inductively coupled plasma spectrometry

Abstract

Abstract The pneumatic nebulization systems used in inductively coupled plasma spectrometry generally consist of a concentric glass (Meinhard type) or v‐groove (Babington principle) nebulizer in combination with a cyclonic, cone or Scott double pass cloud chamber. The characteristic mode of action of each nebulizer produces an aerosol, the droplet size distribution of which depends on the solution matrix. Before reaching the plasma the aerosol is partitioned by the specific mode of action of each cloud chamber and contains droplets less than 10μm in diameter. The partitioned fraction of solution that reaches the plasma determines the transport efficiency and hence the detection limits of the nebulization system. Nitric and nitric/perchloric acid digestion are the most commonly used procedures for the destruction and dissolution of the mineral components of organic and geochemical materials. However oxidation of plant material by nitric acid may be incomplete and the concentration and acid type used in the...