Determination of phosphorus using high-resolution diphosphorus molecular absorption spectra produced in the graphite furnace

• High-resolution overview absorption spectrum of P2 in the graphite furnace
• Determination of phosphorus using P2 absorption line at 204.205 nm
• P2 absorption signal evaluation using up to 400 P2 lines

Molecular absorption of diphosphorus was produced in a graphite furnace and evaluated in view of its suitability for phosphorus determination. Measurements were performed with two different high-resolution continuum source absorption spectrometers. The first system is a newly in-house developed simultaneous broad-range spectrograph, which was mainly used for recording overview absorption spectra of P2 between 193 nm and 245 nm. The region covers the main part of the C 1Σu+ ← X 1Σg+ electronic transition and shows a complex structure with many vibrational bands, each consisting of a multitude of sharp rotational lines. With the help of molecular data available for P2, an assignment of the vibrational bands was possible and the rotational structure could be compared with simulated spectra. The second system is a commercial sequential continuum source spectrometer, which was used for the basic analytical measurements. The P2 rotational line at 204.205 nm was selected and systematically evaluated with regard to phosphorus determination. The conditions for P2 generation were optimized and it was found that the combination of a ZrC modified graphite tube and borate as a chemical modifier were essential for a good production of P2. Serious interferences were found in the case of nitrate and sulfuric acid, although the nitrate interference can be eliminated by a higher pyrolysis temperature. The reliability of the method was proved by analysis of certified samples. Using standard tubes, a characteristic mass of 10 ng and a limit of detection of 7 ng were found. The values could further be improved by a factor of ten using a miniaturized tube with an internal diameter of 2 mm. Compared to the conventional method based on the phosphorus absorption line at 213.618 nm, the advantages of using P2 are the gentle temperature conditions and the potential of performing a simultaneous multi-line evaluation to further improve the limit of detection.