Simultaneous Mass Bias and Elemental Fractionation Corrections Utilizing Isotopic Solid Standards and Laser Ablation ICPMS

Published

December 1, 2005

Author(s)

W C. Davis, Steven J. Christopher, Gregory C. Turk

Abstract

Homogeneous incorporation of analytes of known isotopic abundance into sol-gel derived standards that mimic important mineral systems has the potential to contribute significantly to providing solid standard benchmarks for a range of applications. This preliminary technical note reports on the synthesis of solid glass standards produced via the sol-gel method and doping with Standard Reference Material (SRM) 981 (Common Lead Isotopic Standard) and SRM 982 (Equal-Atom Lead Isotopic Standard. Particles from these solid samples were then introduced into an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICPMS) via laser ablation to determine if the materials could be developed as isotopic reference materials. Preliminary results for Pb isotope ratios show that these solid isotopic reference standards are capable of correcting for instrumental mass bias and laser ablation induced bias due to elemental fractionation simultaneously. Correction factors generated from the quotient of the certified and measured Pb isotopic ratios in sol-gel discs spiked with SRM 981 and 982 were successfully applied to produce accurate isotope ratios using comparative control/unknown checks. These correction factors were also used to assign Pb isotopic ratios in NIST SRM 612 Trace Elements in Glass that were in excellent agreement with published measurements, suggesting that tunable matrix sol-gel discs can serve as adequate control matrices for evaluation of glass type and other solid samples.

Citation

Journal of the American Chemical Society

Pub Type

Journals

Keywords

inductively coupled polasma, isotope ratio, laser ablation standards, Mass Spectrometry, sol-gel

Citation

Davis, W. , Christopher, S. and Turk, G. (2005), Simultaneous Mass Bias and Elemental Fractionation Corrections Utilizing Isotopic Solid Standards and Laser Ablation ICPMS, Journal of the American Chemical Society (Accessed May 2, 2024)