TQ-ICP-MS-Laboratory

How it works

The sample material is injected into the inductively coupled plasma as an aerosol with argon as the carrier gas. The aerosol particles are generated either by sputtering a sample solution or by ablation of a solid using a laser. In the hot plasma (5000-7000 °C), the sample is dissociated, atomized and ionized within milliseconds. The ions enter the mass spectrometer through the so-called plasma interface. By combining two mass filters (Q1 and Q3), which isolate these ions, and a collision reaction cell (Q2), which is located between Q1 and Q3 and generates specific reaction products by adding reaction gases (e.g. H₂, O₂, He), the different masses (isotopes) can be separated from each other before their intensity is determined.

Sample types

A variety of liquid and solid samples can be analyzed. For solution ICP-MS, the sample must be in liquid form, which is often achieved by dissolving it in ultra-pure acids. While carbonates can already be dissolved in dilute nitric acid, silicate rocks require a mixture of concentrated nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, and hydrofluoric acid and heating to 145 °C in a Teflon beaker. Many types of solids can be used for in-situ laser ablation ICP-MS.

The device iCAP MTX-900

The Thermo Scientific iCAP-MTX-900 is a triple quadrupole ICP mass spectrometer for quantitative analysis of trace and ultratrace elements and isotope ratios in geological and non-geological samples with very high sensitivity. Detection limits of many elements are in the range of 1 ppt (= 1 part per trillion = 0.000000000001 g per mL) or better.

Laboratory equipment:

• Triple quadrupole ICP-MS Thermo Scientific iCAP MTX-900
• ESL Artifact193 laser ablation system
• Autosampler ESI SC-4DX for 4 x 60 samples
• Clean lab with RLK clean-air cabinets by PicoTrace and Sartorius arium water purification unit
• Sample digestion lab with an EvapoClean digestion system and PicoTrace closed subboiling system for producing ultrapure acids (HNO₃)