Candidate
Victor Grant Shadbolt
Title
Removing Interferences within ElectroThermal Vaporization Flame Atomic Emissions Spectrometry
Supervisor
Chris Backhouse
Abstract
Flame Atomic Emissions Spectroscopy (FAES) is a powerful spectroscopic technique for trace metal analysis, however, the applications of the method are severely curtailed by its inability to deal with complex samples unless substantial sample preparation, typically elaborate and time consuming, is performed. Some examples of interferences include the classical spectral interference between Na and Ca and the prominent matrix interference between Al and alkaline earth metals, in either case leading to an inability to detect the weaker spectral signature.
In this presentation I will discuss the use of an ElectroThermal Vaporizer (ETV) to analyze the interfering components separately at successively higher temperatures, thereby converting the complex sample into a series of simple samples, thereby minimizing interferences. This approach may circumvent the need for external sample preparation. The technique is demonstrated by showing the detection of a weak Ca signal in the presence of a strong Na signal, a situation which has been shown to be problematic.