Abstract
The emission characteristics of ionic lines of nickel, cobalt, and vanadium were investigated when argon or krypton was employed as the plasma gas in glow discharge optical emission spectrometry. A dc Grimm-style lamp was employed as the excitation source. Detection limits of the ionic lines in each iron-matrix alloy sample were compared between the krypton and the argon plasmas. Particular intense ionic lines were observed in the emission spectra as a function of the discharge gas (krypton or argon), such as the Co II 258.033 nm for krypton and the Co II 231.707 nm for argon. The explanation for this is that collisions with the plasma gases dominantly populate particular excited levels of cobalt ion, which can receive the internal energy from each gas ion selectively, for example, the 3d74p 3G5 (6.0201 eV) for krypton and the 3d74p 3G4 (8.0779 eV) for argon. In the determination of nickel as well as cobalt in iron-matrix samples, more sensitive ionic lines could be found in the krypton plasma rather than the argon plasma. Detection limits in the krypton plasma were 0.0039 mass% Ni for the Ni II 230.299-nm line and 0.002 mass% Co for the Co II 258.033-nm line. However, in the determination of vanadium, the argon plasma had better analytical performance, giving a detection limit of 0.0023 mass% V for the V II 309.310-nm line.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Payling R, Jones D, Bengtson A (eds) (1997) Glow discharge optical emission spectrometry. Wiley, Chichester
Marcus RK, Broekaert JAC (eds) (2003) Glow discharge plasmas in analytical spectroscopy. Wiley, Chichester
Wagatsuma K, Hirokawa K (1985) Characterization of atomic emission lines from argon, neon, and nitrogen glow discharge plasmas. Anal Chem 57:2901–2907
Fischer W, Nomads A, Nickel H (1994) Effects of a controlled addition of nitrogen and oxygen to argon on the analytical parameters of glow discharge optical emission spectrometry. J Anal Atom Spectrom 9:375–380
Wagatsuma K, Hirokawa K (1987) Emission spectroscopic studies of Grimm-type glow discharge plasma with argon-helium gas mixtures. Spectrochim. Acta Part B 42:523–531
Wagatsuma K, Hirokawa K (1988) Effects of helium addition to an argon glow discharge plasma on emission lines of sputtered particles. Anal Chem 60:702–705
Wagatsuma K, Hirokawa K (1991) Spectrometric studies of excitation mechanisms on singly-ionized copper emission lines in Grimm-type discharge plasmas with helium mixture technique. Spectrochim Acta Part B 46:269–281
Christopher SJ, Hartenstein ML, Marcus RK, Belkin M, Caruso JA (1998) Characterization of helium/argon working gas systems in a radiofrequency glow discharge atomic emission source. Part I: optical emission, sputtering and electrical characteristics. Spectrochim Acta Part B 53:1181–1196
Belkin M, Caruso JA, Christopher SJ, Marcus RK (1998) Characterization of helium/argon working gas system in a radiofrequency glow discharge atomic emission source. Part II: Langmuir probe and emission intensity studies for Al, Cu, and Macor samples. Spectrochim Acta Part B 53:1197–1208
Boumans PWJM (1966) Theory of spectrochemical excitation. Plenum, New York
Wagatsuma K, Danzaki Y, Nakahara T (2003) Comparative study on the excitation mechanism of chromium emission lines in the argon radio-frequency inductively-coupled plasma, nitorogen microwave induced plasma, and argon or nitrogen glow discharge plasmas. Spectrosc Lett 36:99–115
Wagatsuma K (2003) Some observations on an anomalous excitation behavior of chromium emission lines in an argon radio-frequency powered glow discharge plasma. Spectrochim Acta Part B 58:565–573
Steers EBM, Fielding RJ (1987) Charge-transfer excitation processes in the Grimm lamp. J Anal Atom Spectrom 2:239–244
Duffendach OS, Black JG (1929) Studies on the spectra of Cu I, Cu II, and Mn II by means of a vacuum tungsten furnace. Phys Rev 34:35–43
Wagatsuma K, Honda H (2005) Comparative studies on excitation of nickel ionic lines between argon and krypton glow discharge plasmas. Spectrochim Acta Part B 60:1538–1544
Wagatsuma K, Hirokawa K (1984) Observation of Cu-Ni alloy surfaces by low wattage glow discharge emission spectrometry. Surf Interface Anal 6:34–38
Morita H, Wagatsuma K, Hirokawa K (1991) New glow discharge lamp with co-axially-arranged dual hollow anodes. Surf Interface Anal 17:116–119
Grimm W (1968) Eine neue Glimmentladungslampe fηr die optische Emissionsspektralanalyse. Spectrochim Acta Part B 23:443–454
Sugar J, Corliss C (1985) Atomic energy levels of the iron-period elements: potassium through nickel. J Phys Chem Ref Data 14(Suppl. No. 2)
Moore CE (1948) Atomic energy levels. Vol. 1. NBS Circular 467, Washington DC
Steers EBM, Thorne AP (1993) Application of high-resolution Fourier transform spectrometry to the study of glow discharge sources. J Anal Atom Spectrom 8:309–315
Wagatsuma K (1996) Selective excitation of singly-ionized silver emission lines by Grimm glow discharge plasmas using several different plasma gases. Z Phys D 37:231–239
Wagatsuma K (1996) Classification of emission lines of group IIIB elements, aluminium, gallium and indium, excited by Grimm glow discharge plasmas using several different plasma gases. J Anal Atom Spectrom 11:957–966
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Wagatsuma, K. Comparison in the analytical performance between krypton and argon glow discharge plasmas as the excitation source for atomic emission spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 393, 2067–2074 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-009-2700-5
Received:
Revised:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-009-2700-5