Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy: An Alternative Approach to “Flameless” Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy

Atomic emission spectroscopy (AES) combined with an inductively coupled plasma (ICP) excitation source is discussed as an attractive alternative approach to “flameless” atomic absorption spectroscopy for the determination of trace elements in liquid samples of limited volume. The AES-ICP approach offers the potential advantage of: (a) being able to perform these determinations on a simultaneous multielement basis, and (b) possessing an unusual degree of freedom from interelement effects if solution nebulization techniques are utilized. For 1-ml sample volumes, the relative powers of detection (ng/ml) of the AES-ICP approach are comparable to the values reported for flameless atomic absorption procedures.