STUDIES ON INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA SAMPLE INTRODUCTION .2. USE OF ETHANOL WATER SOLUTIONS AND DESOLVATION

Studies of the effects of ethanol and desolvation on the determination of rare earth elements show that the use of 95% ethanol in water solution and desolvation at 300-degrees-C improves the detection limits by a factor of 5-10. It is found that the amount of analyte reaching the plasma, and hence the line intensities, increase with the desolvation temperature and the ethanol concentration. On the other hand, the residual ethanol reaching the plasma partially counteracts this enhancement effect.