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Influence of methane addition on selenium isotope sensitivity and their spectral interferences
Author(s) -
Floor Geerke H.,
Millot Romain,
Iglesias Mónica,
Négrel Philippe
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
journal of mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.475
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9888
pISSN - 1076-5174
DOI - 10.1002/jms.1880
Subject(s) - chemistry , selenium , methane , inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry , isotope , analytical chemistry (journal) , mass spectrometry , inductively coupled plasma , argon , analyte , natural abundance , hydride , hydrogen , environmental chemistry , plasma , chromatography , physics , organic chemistry , quantum mechanics
The measurements of stable selenium (Se) isotopic signatures by multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (MC‐ICP‐MS) are very challenging, due to the presence of spectral interferences and the low abundance of Se in environmental samples. We systematically investigated the effect of methane addition on the signal of Se isotopes and their interferences. It is the first time that the effect of methane addition has been assessed for all Se isotopes and its potential interferences using hydride generator multi‐collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HG‐MC‐ICP‐MS). Our results show that a small methane addition increases the sensitivity. However, the response differs between a hydride generator and a standard introduction system, which might be related to differences in the ionization processes. Both argon and hydrogen‐based interferences, the most common spectral interferences on selenium isotopes in HG‐MC‐ICP‐MS, decrease with increasing methane addition. Therefore, analyte‐interference ratios and precision are improved. Methane addition has thus a high potential for the application to stable Se isotopes ratios by HG‐MC‐ICP‐MS. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.