A novel method for metallic element analysis in particle samples using a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy technique

Abstract

A novel and simple experimental system was designed in the present work for real-time particle analysis using a laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technique without time-consuming pretreatment processes, which can also effectively avoid inherent difficulties such as particle splashing during the particle LIBS analysis. In addition, the advantages of this novel and simple experimental system, including being simple and fast, are in conformity with the characteristics of the LIBS technique. In this study, Geochemical Standard Reference Soil particles were selected as the samples for demonstrating the novel analytical method. The soil samples were transferred to an adsorption plate via argon gas and the adsorption plate was placed on a two-dimensional rotating stage. Owning to good stickiness, the adsorption plate can hold a large number of particle samples, and the rotating stage ensures that each laser pulse shoots on a fresh target surface, which can effectively improve the accuracy during the LIBS analysis. To verify this novel analytical method, the calibration curves for titanium (Ti) and magnesium (Mg) were obtained. Under the optimized conditions, the limits of detection (LOD) for Ti and Mg in soil samples using this system are 124.571 μg g⁻¹ and 0.0126%, respectively. The results show that the novel method designed in the present study is a feasible option for analyzing metallic elements in particle samples using the LIBS technique and could have potential applications for practical and online analysis.