Analysis of Contamination Soil with Cu from Road Side by Using Laser Ablation Technique

Abstract

In this project, laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) has been utilized to determine the heavy element (Copper) in soil sample. LIBS was used in this work to measure the detection limit of Cu in soil sample, on the basis of spectral features, many parameters to improve the sensitivity of LIBS detection of copper are proposed. Q-switch Nd:YAG laser pulse was carried out at 90 mJ and wavelength of 1064 nm to excite the soil samples in purpose of produce a fluorescence emission (plasma), which were analyzed via spectrum analyzer. The important experimental conditions such as the energy of laser source, integration time, the distance and angle of optical fiber from the sparks were optimized for obtain a best LIBS signal. Calibration curve of the Cu peak found to be 236.81 nm as the best peak to calculate the limit of detection (LOD) and found in this study about 2 ppm. From the results the concentrations of Cu is realized to be lower than the allowance limits of 1500 ppm according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency USEPA.