Fast heating induced impulse halogenation of refractory sample components in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry by direct injection of a liquid halogenating agent.

A novel electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (ETAAS) method was developed for the halogenation of refractory sample components (Er, Nd and Nb) of lithium niobate (LiNbO(3)) and bismuth tellurite (Bi(2)TeO(5)) optical single crystals to overcome memory effects and carry-over. For this purpose, the cleaning step of a regular graphite furnace heating program was replaced with a halogenation cycle. In this cycle, after the graphite tube cooled to room temperature, a 20 μL aliquot of liquid carbon tetrachloride (CCl(4)) was dispensed with a conventional autosampler into the graphite tube.

Major ionic species in size-segregated aerosols and associated gaseous pollutants at a coastal site on the Belgian North Sea.

The chemical composition of airborne particulate matter (PM) was studied at a coastal region near De Haan, Belgium, during a winter-spring and a summer campaign in 2006. The major ionic components of size-segregated PM, i.e.

Sample damage during X-ray fluorescence analysis--case study on ammonium salts in atmospheric aerosols.

Atmospheric aerosols can consist of, amongst others, compounds like NH(4)NO(3) or (NH(4))(2)SO(4). Such components can suffer radiation damage and/or evaporate during EDXRF measurements, providing errors on successively applied analysis. The aim of this work is to investigate the influence of measurements using conventional EDXRF on the volatile compounds and to compare it with the influence of polarized beam EDXRF using secondary targets (and hence indirect irradiation).

Airborne particulate matter and BTEX in office environments.

Total suspended particulate (TSP), PM(2.5) and BTEX were collected in nine offices in the province of Antwerp, Belgium. Both indoor and outdoor aerosol samples were analysed for their weight, elemental composition, and water-soluble fraction.

High-energy polarized-beam energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence analysis combined with activated thin layers for cadmium determination at trace levels in complex environmental liquid samples.

In this paper, we describe a new method for trace level Cd determination in complex environmental liquid samples. Thin layers activated with the extractant Aliquat 336 were prepared either by direct impregnation of commercial polymeric supports or by physical inclusion in a cellulose triacetate matrix, and both were effectively used to collect Cd present at low concentration in different aqueous matrixes. Quantitation of Cd contained in the thin layers was performed by high-energy polarized-beam energy-dispersive X-ray fluorescence.

Determination of platinum, palladium, and rhodium in automotive catalysts using high-energy secondary target X-ray fluorescence spectrometry.

A fast and direct determination procedure for precious metals in spent automotive catalyst was developed using the novel high-energy polarized-beam XRF. A sample preparation method working directly on the ground material was optimized. The material was pressed as a pellet using wax as a binder; no internal standard was added.