Analysis of doped luminescent lanthanide fluoride nanoparticles by low gas flow inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

Carsten Engelhard, Torsten Vielhaber, Andy Scheffer, Mareike Brocksieper, Wolfgang Buscher, Uwe Kärst

Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry · 2007 · 13 citations · 20 references

Concepts

Abstract

Low-flow inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry is applied for the analysis of water-soluble LaF3nanocrystals doped with different lanthanide ions (Ce3+, Eu3+, Ho3+, Tb3+) for the first time. Colloidal solutions of citrate-stabilized nanoparticles (mean size 24 nm) were directly introduced into the plasma and no significant differences to digested particles were observed. The low-flow approach reduced the argon consumption of conventional instrumentation by 95% and provided limits of detection (LOD) for rare earth elements in the low microgram-per-liter range (Eu: 0.08 µg L−1, Ho: 0.18 µg L−1, La: 0.36 µg L−1, Tb: 0.56 µg L−1, Ce: 3.14 µg L−1). Relative standard deviations (RSDs) in the range of 1–2.2% with pneumatic sample introduction were obtained. The analytical performance of the low-flow torch was assessed by direct comparison with a conventional torch. Recoveries in the range of 97–104% were observed for most elements.

References

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