Use of stirred tanks for studying matrix effects caused by inorganic acids, easily ionized elements and organic solvents in inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry

A stirred tank was used for the first time to elucidate the mechanism responsible for inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES) matrix effects caused by inorganic, acids and easily ionized elements (EIEs), as well as organic, ethanol and acetic acid, compounds. In order to gradually increase the matrix concentration, a matrix solution was introduced inside a stirred container (tank) initially filled with an aqueous multielement standard. PolyTetraFluoroEthylene (PTFE) tubing was used to deliver the resulting solution to the liquid sample introduction system. Matrix concentration ranged from 0 to 2 mol l− 1 in the case of inorganic acids (i.e., nitric, sulfuric, hydrochloric and a mixture of them), from 0 to about 2500 mg l− 1 for EIEs (i.e., sodium, calcium and mixtures of both) and from 0% to 15%, w/w for organic compounds. Up to 40–50 different solutions were prepared and measured in a period of time shorter than 6–7 min. This investigation was carried out in terms of emission intensity and tertiary aerosols characteristics. The experimental setup used in the present work allowed to thoroughly study the effect of matrix concentration on analytical signal. Generally speaking, the experiments concerning tertiary aerosol characterization revealed that, in the case of inorganic acids and EIEs, the mechanism responsible for changes in aerosol characteristics was the droplet fission. In contrast, for organic matrices it was found that the interference was caused by a change in both aerosol transport and plasma thermal characteristics. The extent of the interferences caused by organic as well as inorganic compounds was compared for a set of 14 emission lines through a wide range of matrix concentrations. With a stirred tank, it is possible to choose an efficient internal standard for any given matrix composition. The time required to complete this procedure was shorter than 7 min.