Influence of spectra accumulation speeds on multi elemental nanoparticle detection

The analysis of small particles down to nanometer sizes has been a challenging undertaking over the past decades. With many tons of nanoparticles currently being produced and released into the environment annually and the abundance of nanoparticles from natural sources, the accurate identification and detection of particles is crucial. Whilst multiple techniques can be used for this purpose, single particle (SP)-ICP-MS has been an important one due to the sensitive detection, fast examination of large numbers of particles and low amount of sample preparation needed.

In recent years there have been improvements made to decrease the size detection limit of SP-ICP-MS methods by improving the sensitivity of the instruments. Furthermore, decreasing the acquisition times has improved the particle identification, especially in presence of ionic background signals in the samples. This has led to a reduced need for sample dilution and therefore quicker analyses and better statistics. All SP-ICP-MS on quadrupole or magnetic sector instruments to date has been using only one element as the transient signal from a particle is too short to reliably measure any more elements. The recent introduction of time-of-flight ICP-MS has made the detection of multiple elements in a single particle possible, and the Nu Vitesse combines the multielement capability of TOF with the sub-millisecond spectra accumulation times necessary for the best quality nanoparticle data. The detection of multiple elements has been shown to be valuable in the differentiation of man made and natural nanoparticles as well as the differentiation of particles based on composition.

Herein the influence of the time taken to save each spectrum to disk, or dwell time as it is called in quadrupole and magnetic sector ICP-MS, whilst looking at single elemental nanoparticles will be discussed and then examined in detail through the multi element detection capabilities of the Vitesse.

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