Influence of heated spray chamber desolvation on the detectability in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A comparison study has been made of the performance of a heated spray chamber desolvation system for sample introduction into inductively coupled plasma. The heated spray chamber system Mistral replaces the normal spray chamber of an ICP-spectrometer and improves the efficiency of both aerosol generation and transport to the plasma [1]. 27 elements in 6 sample solutions with different mineralization were measured with and without the heated spray chamber system. The higher the mineralization of the sample solution, the less was the increase of the intensity of the spectral lines of the elements determined. An increase of the intensity by the same factor for most of the elements was observed in different sample solutions like drinking water (factor 6), fresh water (factor 5), sea water (factor 1.5) and acid solutions resulting from the digestions of soil (factor 3-4) and rock (factor 2) samples. A few elements in drinking and fresh water were only detectable by using Mistral. A clear improvement of the detection limits was found, but compared to the increase of the intensity not for all elements by the same factor. The detection limits for water samples are in the lower mu g/L- and the higher ng/L-level by using Mistral. So the Mistral is an alternative to the ultrasonic nebulizer.