Direct analysis of tellurium solid samples with a two-jet arc plasma using electrothermal vaporization

Abstract

The combination of two-jet arc plasma optical emission spectrometry (TJP-OES) and electrothermal vaporization (ETV) for sample introduction is proposed for the first time. The direct analysis of solid tellurium samples by ETV-TJP-OES is described. The temperature program of ETV enabled the evaporation of the sample matrix (tellurium) and analytes separately. The separate vaporization of the sample matrix and analytes reduced interference, which ensured lower limits of detection of the technique (LODs). The proposed ETV-TJP-OES technique allowed the simultaneous determination of up to 17 elements in a high-purity tellurium sample with LODs ranging from 0.02 to 50 ng g⁻¹. The LODs of Al, Au, Ba, Be, Cr, Mg, Mn, Ni, Pb, Re, Sr and Zn provided by ETV-TJP-OES are 2 to 50 times lower compared with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES) after sample decomposition and analysis using pneumatic nebulization for sample introduction into the ICP. The accuracy of the proposed technique was confirmed by the analysis of tellurium samples by ICP-OES and by analyte (spike) recovery tests.