In this work, the effects of using collision/reaction cell (CRC) technology in quadrupole-based ICP-MS 16 (ICP-QMS) instrumentation operated in single-particle (SP) mode have been assessed. The influence 17 of (i) various CRC gases, (ii) gas flow rates, (iii) nanoparticle (NP) sizes and (iv) NP types was evaluated 18 using Ag, Au and Pt NPs with both a traditional ICP-QMS instrument and a tandem ICP-mass 19 spectrometer. It has been shown that using CRC technology brings about a significant increase in the 20 NP signal peak width (from 0.5 up to 6 ms). This effect is more prominent for a heavier gas (e.g., NH 3) 21 than for a lighter one (e.g., H 2 or He). At a higher gas flow rate and/or for larger particle sizes (>100 been further demonstrated by characterizing custom-made 50 and 200 nm Fe 3 O 4 NPs (originally 1 strongly affected by the occurrence of spectral overlap) using different CRC approaches (H 2 on-mass 2 and NH 3 mass-shift). The use of NH 3 (monitoring of Fe as the Fe(NH 3) 2 + reaction product ion at m/z = 3 90 amu) induces a significant peak broadening compared to that observed when using H 2 (6.10 ± 1.60 4 vs. 0.94 ± 0.49 ms). This extension of transit time can most likely be attributed to the 5 collisions/interactions of the ion cloud generated by a single NP event with the CRC gas and it even 6 precludes 50 nm Fe 3 O 4 NPs to be detected when using the NH 3 mass-shift approach. Based on these 7 results, the influence of a longer peak width on the accuracy of SP-ICP-MS measurement data (NP 8 size, particle number density and mass concentration) must be taken into account when using CRC 9 technology as a means to overcome spectral overlap. To mitigate the potential detrimental effect of 10 using CRC technology in the characterization of NPs via SP-ICP-MS(/MS), the use of light gases and 11 low gas flow rates is recommended. 12
Toxicological studies concerning nanomaterials in complex biological matrices usually require a carefully designed workflow that involves handling, transportation and preparation of a large number of samples without affecting the nanoparticle...
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