Analytical Performance in Flow Injection—Simultaneous Multielement—Inductively Coupled Plasma—Optical Emission Spectrometry Employing a Cyclonic Spray Chamber

Abstract

Simultaneous multielement–inductively coupled plasma–optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) with flow injection (FI) and a small-volume cyclonic spray chamber is described. Analytical performance of FI-ICP-OES was studied with the use of a concentric nebulizer and the cyclonic spray chamber for carrier nebulization. A noise study using Fourier transformation analysis was also carried out to identify the factors that affect the analytical figures of merit of FI-ICP-OES. At a carrier flow rate of 1.0 mL/min, the major source of noise, between 0 and 15 Hz, was the peristaltic pump's roller rotation; this pump noise disappeared at a flow rate of 3.5 mL/min. A number of other discrete low-frequency noise sources were also observed at flow rates below 2.5 mL/min, with resultant degradation of precision and detection limit.