Radiation versus conduction in heated spray chamber desolvation for inductively coupled plasmas

Abstract

A comparative study has been made of the performance of two heated spray chamber desolvation systems for sample introduction into inductively coupled plasmas. These two systems differed in the way that heat was delivered to the aerosol. The first system used a silica spray chamber that was embedded in an electrically heated copper block, so that conductive heat transfer was favoured. The second system used a spray chamber of the same dimensions and material, but it was placed at the focus of a radiant heater. Measurements were made of the sensitivity gains, stabilities and sample carryover that were obtained with both systems when aqueous solutions were injected using several different nebulizers. The results showed that radiant heating gave better short-term stability and sharply reduced wash-out times and carryover effects.