DMA as a Gas Converter from Aerosol to "Argonsol" for Real-Time Chemical Analysis Using ICP-MS

Abstract

In this study, "Argonsol" is de ned as an assembly of liquid or solid particles suspended in argon, just as an aerosol is a suspension in air. Argonsol can be generated by a nebulizer and fed into a plasma torch for measurement by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). We have developed a new gas-conversion method, by means of a DMA, from normal aerosol to size-classi ed Argonsol for a chemical analysis using ICP-MS. A test aerosol containing lead as a typical toxic heavy metal was introduced into this system. With this system the size-related elemental concentration of lead nitrate particles in the range of 30 to 140 nm was measured. The sensitivity of this system is better than fg (10 ¡ 15 g) of lead in the total mass of particles introduced into ICP-MS. In principle, it is possible for our system to analyze all the elements that ICP-MS and/or ICP-AES can analyze.

Quantification of ligand packing density on gold nanoparticles using ICP-OES

“…These preliminary data were based on ensemble-averaged measurements, but ICP-based techniques are adaptable to hyphenation with size-separation techniques [11][12][13] and have the potential to be optimized for single-particle analysis [14,15]. These data will be applied to future work focusing on other ligands of interest as well as addressing the limitations of the method, including hyphenation with size-selective techniques and improvement of detection limits using ICP-MS.…”

Chemical characterization of particulate emissions from diesel engines: A review

“…Okada, Yabumoto, and Takeuchi (2002) combined differential mobility and ICP-MS analysis for in situ size and composition measurement of metal particles relevant to semiconductor processing. By operating the DMA with an argon sheath gas, it acts also as a gas converter (Myojo, Takaya, & Ono-Ogasawara, 2002). Thus, the monodisperse particles at the outlet find themselves in an argon carrier gas and they can be introduced directly into the plasma torch where the argon plasma evaporates and ionizes the particle constituents.…”

Time-resolved ICP-MS Measurement: a New Method for Elemental and Multiparametric Analysis of Single Cells

“…17,18 Through combination with elemental tagging techniques, the amount distributions of biomolecules in individual cells can also be evaluated similar to a flow cytometer. [19][20][21][22][23] Time-resolved measurement is not a new technique for ICP optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and ICP-MS, but it has been mainly applied to the elemental analysis of airborne particle matter [31][32][33][34] and observation studies of particle decomposition inside the plasma. [35][36][37] In the past decade or so, time-resolved ICP-MS has attracted much attention for highly sensitive elemental and multiparametric analyses of single biological cells.…”