Material aspects in laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of algae on filters
| Authors | |
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| Year of publication | 2023 |
| Type | Conference abstract |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Determination of heavy metals in algae is an important environmental issue. The typical employed instrumentation is Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) [1]. However, the algae must be filtered from a parent solution and the filter is consequently decomposed and analysed. On the other hand, Laser-induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS) can directly analyse dried and/or pelletized algae [2] or just ablate an algae sediment on the filter [3]. Quantitative analysis of the algae on the filter is, beside others, complicated by different intensities of spectra depending on the deposit and the hardness of the filter underlay. The whole filter area is fixed to a microscopic glass with a double adhesive tape. The fixation must be done very precisely. The emission signal will decrease and the filter is perforated if it does not touch the glass properly. Also the concentration of the contaminants in the solution influences the total plasma emission. The character of the system filter-tape-glass is investigated in dependence on the sticking layers and filtered solution. It is shown how the total spectral emission, plasma parameters and lines intensities change (e.g. ionic-to-atomic line ration decrease) in dependence on the hardness of the sticking. The observed intensities changes are supported with shadowgraphic studies of shockwaves and crater depths at 1064 nm LIBS. The shockwave is slightly decreased on a softer or more impregnated filter system. It can be concluded that a lower contamination, low number of dead algae cells and a thin tape on a hard glass base provide higher emission signals but blank filter emission is lower on a sufficiently hard base. An appropriate combination of the total emissivity, lines ratios and shadowgraphy can then be used for internal standardization. The correction for the aforementioned effects can improve the trueness of the quantification. |
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