Time-resolved inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry measurements with individual, monodisperse drop sample introduction.

Individual ion clouds, each produced in the ICP from a single drop of sample, were monitored using time-resolved mass spectrometry and optical emission spectrometry simultaneously. The widths of the ion clouds in the plasma as a function of distance from the point of initial desolvated particle vaporization in the ICP were estimated. The Li(+) cloud width (full width at halfmaximum) varied from 85 to 272 µs at 3 and 10 mm from the apparent vaporization point, respectively. The Sr(+) cloud width varied from 97 to 142 µs at 5 and 10 mm from the apparent vaporization point, respectively. The delays between optical and mass spectrometry signals were used to measure gas velocities in the ICP. The velocity data could then be used to convert ion cloud peak widths in time to cloud sizes in the ICP. Li(+) clouds varied from 2.1 to 6.6 mm (full width at half-maximum) and Sr(+) clouds varied from 2.4 to 3.5 mm at the locations specified above. Diffusion coefficients were estimated from experimental data to be 88, 44, and 24 cm(2)/s for Li(+), Mg(+), and Sr(+), respectively. The flight time of ions from the sampling orifice of the mass spectrometer to the detector were mass dependent and varied from 13 to 21 µs for Mg(+) to 93 to 115 µs for Pb(+).

Time-resolved measurements of individual ion cloud signals to investigate space-charge effects in plasma mass spectrometry.

A new approach to directly monitor space charge induced effects due to high concentrations of efficiently ionized elements in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is described. The broadening of ion clouds produced from individual, monodisperse drops of sample is measured by using time-resolved ICP-MS. The extent of broadening due to high concentrations of Pb in the sample is related inversely to the analyte mass. For the lightest analyte investigated, Li(+), the relative width of the time-resolved analyte peak increases and then shows a dip in the center as the Pb concentration is increased to 500 and then 1500 µg/mL. The initial results of experiments that investigated chemical matrix effects as a function of concomitant species concentration, analyte mass, and sampling location in ICP-MS are consistent with space-charge effects.