Vanadium determination in chloride matrices using ICP-MS: finding the optimum collision/reaction cell parameters for suppressing polyatomic interferences

Abstract

Efficiencies of He/NH₃ and He/H₂ collision gases were compared in a conventional type of hexapole cell of an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer (ICP-MS). The optimum conditions [hexapole and quadrupole bias voltage (V_H and V_Q) and collision/reaction gas flow rates] were tested for vanadium determination (⁵¹V) in chloride matrices. When the He/H₂ mixture was used, the optimum values of V_H and V_Q were −10.0 and −8.0 V, respectively. This set-up corresponds to the kinetic energy discrimination effect. When the He/NH₃ mixture was used, the optimum values of V_H and V_Q were +10.0 and −7.0 V, respectively. Positive V_H values correspond to the ion kinetic energy effect, which allows the reactivity of the ions entering the collision/reaction cell with the reaction gas to be controlled. The obtained results showed that the He/H₂ mixture is not optimal for V determination in samples containing chlorides due to the insufficient suppression of the polyatomic interference of ³⁵Cl¹⁶O⁺. Data obtained from vanadium determination using the He/NH₃ mixture were consistent for all selected Cl⁻ concentrations, and the results were acceptable. The detection limit was comparable with detection limits obtained from ICP-MS equipped with a dynamic reaction cell. Analyses of elements forming interfering molecules, e.g., iron (⁵⁶Fe), arsenic (⁷⁵As) and selenium (⁸⁰Se), were in good agreement with the certified values for both studied collision/reaction gas mixtures.