Isotopic composition analysis of dissolved mercury in seawater with purge and trap preconcentration and a modified Hg introduction device for MC-ICP-MS

Abstract

A modified introduction device and a preconcentration method were developed to enhance the sensitivity of the Hg isotopic analysis method.

Linking mercury, carbon, and nitrogen stable isotopes in Tibetan biota: Implications for using mercury stable isotopes as source tracers

“…An aliquot of sample solution for THg analysis with the mass of 45 ng THg was removed and diluted to 15 mL by adding Milli-Q water; for sample solutions with the Hg mass lower than 45 ng, 30 ng or 15 ng of THg was removed and diluted to 15 mL 72 . Mercury isotopic ratios were determined by MC-ICP-MS (Nu Plasma HR, Nu Instruments, Great Britain) with a modified cold vapor generation system that introduced Hg to the detection system 78 . The internal standard thallium (Tl) was added to the Hg vapor with a desolvating nebulizer (DSN-100, Nu Instruments, Great Britain), and the Hg isotope ratios were corrected for instrumental mass discrimination by simultaneously monitoring the 205 Tl/ 203 Tl ratio of a standard solution.…”

Mass-dependent and mass-independent fractionation of mercury isotopes in precipitation from Guiyang, SW China

“…The Hg pre-concentration solution was digested with BrCl again for at least 12 h to digest the excess L-cysteine and 20% NH 2 OHÁHCl (1/10 volume of BrCl) was added before the Hg isotope ratio determination (Chen et al, 2010(Chen et al, , 2012. Hg isotope ratio measurements were performed on Nu MC-ICP-MS (Nu Instruments) at IGCAS or Xiamen University following previous published methods ( Bergquist and Blum, 2007;Foucher and Hintelmann, 2006;Lin et al, 2015). The instrumental mass bias was corrected by sample-standard bracketing (SSB).…”

Isotopic fractionation during the uptake and elimination of inorganic mercury by a marine fish

“…Instrumental mass bias was corrected using a sample-standard bracketing with NIST 3133 (in 2% HCl), whose concentration matched with that of the samples during the analysis. The internal standard Tl was added to the Hg vapor after cold vapor generation (Lin et al, 2015) using an Apex nebulizer (CETAC Technologies, Omaha, USA), and the Hg isotope ratios were corrected for instrumental mass discrimination by simultaneously monitoring the 205 Tl/ 203 Tl ratio of a standard solution. The instrumental setup, analytical conditions and parameters determinations followed the previous study (Yin et al, 2011).…”