PNNL

Abstract

Laser ablation (LA) is a means of sample introduction to inductively coupled plasma (ICP) mass spectrometry (MS) that avoids acid dissolution and chemical separation steps conventionally associated with solid sample analysis. At the same time, certain features of LA-ICP-MS are often mentioned in critical reviews including solid matrix variability and its influence on the ablation process, matrix dependent elemental fractionation, lack of matrix matched standards for external calibration, and limitations to internal calibration because it is challenging to add and distribute spikes into solid samples. In this paper we introduce the concept of a synergistic minimal sample preparation method that is used in combination with LA-ICP-MS as a means to overcome these limitations. The aim of this minimal sample preparation procedure is to reactively transform the original matrix to a more consistent matrix for LA-based analysis, thus reducing the effects of matrix variability, while enabling the addition of tracers. In conjunction with ICP-MS, we call this MTR-LA-ICP-MS, where MTR is derived from matrix transformation including the option to add tracers