APPLICATION OF AN INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA TO THE EMISSION SPECTROSCOPIC DETERMINATION OF RARE-EARTHS IN MINERALOGICAL SAMPLES

The determination of rare earth elements (RE) in aqueous solutions by means of inductively coupled plasma (ICP) excitation was investigated. The detection limits of RE were 0.1-30 ng/ml. From the measured physical widths of RE analysis lines it followed that spectral apparatus of high resolving power is required to make full use of the ICP power of detection. The detection limits obtained with photographic techniques are 3-9 times lower than those obtained with photoelectric measurement of the radiation. Matrix effects at different concentration levels were studied. The possibility of ICP excitation for the determination of RE in complex samples at concentrations ranging from 0.001 to 30% were illustrated by simultaneous multielement analysis of RE standard samples of the National Institute for Metallurgy (South Africa) and by the analysis of some other RE compounds. © 1979.