Comparative Determination of Mass Fractions of Elements with Variable Chalcophile Affinities in Geological Reference Materials with and without HF‐desilicification

Abstract

Desilicification elevates extraction of Re and platinum‐group elements (PGEs) from many geological reference materials (RMs), but the extent to which it affects less chalcophile elements has been investigated rarely. To further evaluate the effect of desilicification, mass fractions of elements with variable chalcophile affinities (In, Cd, Cu, Ag, S, Se, Te, Re and PGEs) in different RMs were obtained by isotope dilution and digestion procedures involving HF‐HNO3 in bombs versus HNO3‐HCl in Carius tubes. The results show that the extraction efficiencies of HF‐desilicification vary in different RMs and for different elements. HF‐desilicification led to a significant increase (30–70%) for In and Cd mass fractions in all analysed RMs, but it played a negligible role in other strongly chalcophile elements in many samples (e.g., UB‐N and WGB‐1). Noticeably, desilicification led to a 10–30% increase in the mass fractions of Cu, Ag, S, Se and Te in BHVO‐2 and BIR‐1a, but less so in BCR‐2. These results could be attributed mainly to the variable chalcophile affinities of elements and their relative budget in sulfides, alloys and silicates. Desilicification should thus be preferred to determine chalcophile elements for most samples, except in cases where they are negligibly hosted in silicates.

A new double spike method for the determination of mass-dependent Te isotope compositions of meteorites and terrestrial materials by MC-ICP-MS

“…However, the Te concentration determined for KAL-1 is in line with Te concentrations of 24 ng g −1 to 53 ng g −1 obtained in three previous studies for the IAG komatiite reference material OKUM. 31–33…”

“…However, the Te concentration determined for KAL-1 is in line with Te concentrations of 24 ng g −1 to 53 ng g −1 obtained in three previous studies for the IAG komatiite reference material OKUM. [31][32][33] The Hawaiian basalt BHVO-2 displays the lowest Te concentration of the samples analysed in this study, with a combined mean of 14.5 ± 0.4 ng g −1 for three different digestions (1SD, n = 3). This is broadly consistent with the Te concentrations of 11.9 ± 1.4 ng g −1 to 14.6 ± 2.7 ng g −1 reported in seven previous studies (Table 6).…”

Atomic spectrometry update – a review of advances in environmental analysis

“…Negligible blank levels resulted in very low LOQs of 0.002 mg kg −1 for Se and 0.007 mg kg −1 for Te. To test whether desilicification with HF improved the extraction of elements with variable chalcophile affinities (Ag, Cd, Cu, In, PGEs, Re, S, Se and Te) from geological RMs, digestion procedures involving HF–HNO 3 in bombs were compared 249 with those using HNO 3 –HCl in Carius tubes. The extraction efficiency of HF-desilicification varied for different elements in different RMs; whereas a significant increase (30–70%) was observed for Cd and In mass fractions after HF-desilicification, there was negligible increase for other strongly chalcophile elements in many of the samples.…”

Accurate determination of trace silver in geological reference materials by inductively coupled plasma-tandem mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS)

“…Several methods have been employed to eliminate the spectral interferences of Ag in previous studies, such as membrane desolvation, 9 aerosol dilution technology, 10 chemical separation, [11][12][13][14] high-resolution mass spectrometry, mathematical corrections, 15 and dynamic reaction cell technology. [16][17][18] Xu et al 9 adopted membrane desolvation-ICP-MS, which allowed the removal of solvent water before the aerosol reached the plasma.…”