Characterizing the Performance of the icpTOF for Continuous Solutions and Single Microdroplets

Characterization of a new ICP-TOFMS instrument with continuous and discrete introduction of solutions

Lyndsey Hendriks, Alexander Gundlach-Graham, Bodo Hattendorf and Detlef Günther
Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry, 2017,  DOI: 10.1039/C6JA00400H

This recent publication from Lindsey Hendriks, Alexander Gundlach-Graham Bodo Hattendorf and Detlef Günther of ETH Zurich characterizes the performance of the icpTOF for the the multi-elemental analysis of liquid samples generated with a standard pneumatic nebulizer – cyclonic spray chamber sample-introduction system and single nanoparticles generated with a microdroplet sample-introduction system.

Some key results:

  • icpTOF signal response is linear over 6 orders of magnitude intensity
  • icpTOF isotope ratio precision follows ion-counting statistics
  • Introduction of the concept of Ensemble Averaging for microdroplet-generated (MDG)-ICP-TOFMS signals