Ask the Expert: Elemental Analysis with ICP

Thursday, June 27, 2024
2 pm EDT/ 1 pm CDT/ 11 am PDT

During this live Ask the Expert event, EAG experts answered pre-submitted questions regarding Elemental Analysis with Inductively Coupled Plasma (ICP). These techniques provide full survey elemental composition or purity certification for up to 69 elements at matrix (major), minor, and trace concentrations.

Below were the featured techniques of the event:

In Solution ICP-MS (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry), and LA-ICP-MS, the positively charged particles of the ionized sample are separated into the different elements being measured according to their mass to charge ratio (m/z).

ICP-OES (Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectroscopy) measures the light emitted at element-specific characteristic wavelengths from excited and ionized atoms. 

In LA-ICP-MS (Laser Ablation-Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry), the sample is analyzed by ablating a solid sample with a pulsed laser beam.