Influence of nebulizer design and aerosol impact bead on analytical sensitivities of inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

The characteristics of the aerosols generated by pneumatic concentric nebulizers as well as sensitivities were studied in ICP-MS with a total of 26 nebulizers: 17 of the A-type, 6 of the C-type, and 3 of the K-type. Although of the same design, discrepancies in sensitivity were observed among the A1-30 type nebulizers. Free delivery rate, relation between the median of the volume drop size distribution, D50, and the capillary i.d., effect of the nebulizer gas exit cross sectional area on D50, energy transfer efficiency from the gas to the liquid stream and spatial homogeneity within the aerosol cones were studied. For a given nebulizer design, the gas exit cross-sectional area has shown to critically influence the aerosol characteristics. The aerosol generation mechanism has been explored and it has been concluded that, for A-type nebulizers the nebulization is more efficient than for C and K-type ones. The spray chamber design has also a marked effect on the results according to the particular nebulizer used. It has been observed that sample capillary was not perfectly centered with regard to the gas exit bore for several nebulizers. In order to minimize the problems associated with this bad alignment (i.e., different sensitivity depending on the nebulizer), spray chambers equipped with impact beads may be used, but to the detriment of the sensitivity.