Approaching Standardless Quantitative Elemental Analysis of Solids: Microsecond Pulsed Glow Discharge and Buffer-Gas-Assisted Laser Ionization Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Anal Chem. 2018 Nov 20;90(22):13222-13228. doi: 10.1021/acs.analchem.8b03398. Epub 2018 Nov 2.

Abstract

Among various ionization sources for mass spectrometry, microsecond pulsed glow discharge (MP-GD) and buffer-gas-assisted laser ionization (BGA-LI) sources have the potential for direct quantitative elemental analysis of solids without the requirement of standard reference materials. The analytical potential of these two ionization sources has been evaluated by coupling them to orthogonal time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MS). A straightforward method was proposed to achieve the quantitative result: if a spectrum contains little interference and elemental peak currents are proportional to their concentrations, then the molar concentration of each element is equal to its ion current proportion in the total ion current. Two series of metal standards were applied for the evaluation. Explicit spectra with little interference can be acquired by both techniques. The interferences contribute only a very small portion to the total ion current for MP-GD-MS and BGA-LI-MS; therefore, their influence on the quantitative result can be ignored. All metal elements can be determined quite accurately by the proposed quantitation method, while gaps exist for nonmetal elements due to the high ionization potentials or gas species interference. Between the two techniques, BGA-LI-MS offers a more accurate quantitative result, primarily due to its higher plasma temperature.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't