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1 Principles
1
2 2 INSTRUMENTATION
Cold-vapor atomization The cold-vapor technique an sputtered material, i.e., the element of interest. Most
atomization method limited to only the determination of lamps will handle a handful of elements, i.e. 5-8. A typ-
mercury, due to it being the only metallic element to have ical machine will have two lamps, one will take care of
a large enough vapor pressure at ambient temperature. ve elements and the other will handle four elements for
Because of this, it has an important use in determining a total of nine elements analyzed.
organic mercury compounds in samples and their distri-
bution in the environment. The method initiates by con-
verting mercury into Hg2+ by oxidation from nitric and
sulfuric acids, followed by a reduction of Hg2+ with tin(II) 2.2.2 Electrodeless discharge lamps
chloride. The mercury, is then swept into a long-pass ab-
sorption tube by bubbling a stream of inert gas through Electrodeless discharge lamps (EDL) contain a small
the reaction mixture. The concentration is determined by quantity of the analyte as a metal or a salt in a quartz bulb
measuring the absorbance of this gas at 253.7 nm. Detec- together with an inert gas, typically argon, at low pres-
tion limits for this technique are in the parts-per-billion sure. The bulb is inserted into a coil that is generating an
range making it an excellent mercury detection atomiza- electromagnetic radio frequency eld, resulting in a low-
tion method. pressure inductively coupled discharge in the lamp. The
emission from an EDL is higher than that from an HCL,
and the line width is generally narrower, but EDLs need
2.2 Radiation sources a separate power supply and might need a longer time to
stabilize.
We have to distinguish between line source AAS (LS
AAS) and continuum source AAS (CS AAS). In clas-
sical LS AAS, as it has been proposed by Alan Walsh,
the high spectral resolution required for AAS measure- 2.2.3 Deuterium lamps
ments is provided by the radiation source itself that emits
the spectrum of the analyte in the form of lines that are Deuterium HCL or even hydrogen HCL and deuterium
narrower than the absorption lines. Continuum sources, discharge lamps are used in LS AAS for background cor-
such as deuterium lamps, are only used for background rection purposes. The radiation intensity emitted by these
correction purposes. The advantage of this technique is lamps decreases signicantly with increasing wavelength,
that only a medium-resolution monochromator is neces- so that they can be only used in the wavelength range be-
sary for measuring AAS; however, it has the disadvantage tween 190 and about 320 nm.
that usually a separate lamp is required for each element
that has to be determined. In CS AAS, in contrast, a sin-
gle lamp, emitting a continuum spectrum over the entire
spectral range of interest is used for all elements. Ob-
viously, a high-resolution monochromator is required for
this technique, as will be discussed later.
2.2.4 Continuum sources (Jena, Germany) at the beginning of the 21st century,
based on the design proposed by Becker-Ross and Florek.
When a continuum radiation source is used for AAS, it These spectrometers use a compact double monochroma-
is necessary to use a high-resolution monochromator, as tor with a prism pre-monochromator and an echelle grat-
will be discussed later. In addition, it is necessary that the ing monochromator for high resolution. A linear charge
lamp emits radiation of intensity at least an order of mag- coupled device (CCD) array with 200 pixels is used as the
nitude above that of a typical HCL over the entire wave- detector. The second monochromator does not have an
length range from 190 nm to 900 nm. A special high- exit slit; hence the spectral environment at both sides of
pressure xenon short arc lamp, operating in a hot-spot the analytical line becomes visible at high resolution. As
mode has been developed to fulll these requirements. typically only 35 pixels are used to measure the atomic
absorption, the other pixels are available for correction
purposes. One of these corrections is that for lamp icker
2.3 Spectrometer noise, which is independent of wavelength, resulting in
measurements with very low noise level; other corrections
As already pointed out above, there is a dierence be- are those for background absorption, as will be discussed
tween medium-resolution spectrometers that are used for later.
LS AAS and high-resolution spectrometers that are de-
signed for CS AAS. The spectrometer includes the spec-
tral sorting device (monochromator) and the detector. 3 Background absorption and
background correction
2.3.1 Spectrometers for LS AAS
The relatively small number of atomic absorption lines
In LS AAS the high resolution that is required for the (compared to atomic emission lines) and their narrow
measurement of atomic absorption is provided by the width (a few pm) make spectral overlap rare; there are
narrow line emission of the radiation source, and the only very few examples known that an absorption line
monochromator simply has to resolve the analytical line from one element will overlap with another. Molecular
from other radiation emitted by the lamp. This can usu- absorption, in contrast, is much broader, so that it is more
ally be accomplished with a band pass between 0.2 and 2 likely that some molecular absorption band will overlap
nm, i.e., a medium-resolution monochromator. Another with an atomic line. This kind of absorption might be
feature to make LS AAS element-specic is modulation caused by un-dissociated molecules of concomitant ele-
of the primary radiation and the use of a selective am- ments of the sample or by ame gases. We have to distin-
plier that is tuned to the same modulation frequency, as guish between the spectra of di-atomic molecules, which
already postulated by Alan Walsh. This way any (unmod- exhibit a pronounced ne structure, and those of larger
ulated) radiation emitted for example by the atomizer can (usually tri-atomic) molecules that dont show such ne
be excluded, which is imperative for LS AAS. Simple structure. Another source of background absorption, par-
monochromators of the Littrow or (better) the Czerny- ticularly in ET AAS, is scattering of the primary radiation
Turner design are typically used for LS AAS. Photomul- at particles that are generated in the atomization stage,
tiplier tubes are the most frequently used detectors in LS when the matrix could not be removed suciently in the
AAS, although solid state detectors might be preferred pyrolysis stage.
because of their better signal-to-noise ratio.
All these phenomena, molecular absorption and radiation
scattering, can result in articially high absorption and an
2.3.2 Spectrometers for CS AAS improperly high (erroneous) calculation for the concen-
tration or mass of the analyte in the sample. There are
When a continuum radiation source is used for AAS several techniques available to correct for background ab-
measurement it is indispensable to work with a high- sorption, and they are signicantly dierent for LS AAS
resolution monochromator. The resolution has to be and HR-CS AAS.
equal to or better than the half width of an atomic ab-
sorption line (about 2 pm) in order to avoid losses of
sensitivity and linearity of the calibration graph. The 3.1 Background correction techniques in
research with high-resolution (HR) CS AAS was pio- LS AAS
neered by the groups of OHaver and Harnly in the USA,
who also developed the (up until now) only simultane- In LS AAS background absorption can only be corrected
ous multi-element spectrometer for this technique. The using instrumental techniques, and all of them are based
break-through, however, came when the group of Becker- on two sequential measurements, rstly, total absorption
Ross in Berlin, Germany, built a spectrometer entirely (atomic plus background), secondly, background absorp-
designed for HR-CS AAS. The rst commercial equip- tion only, and the dierence of the two measurements
ment for HR-CS AAS was introduced by Analytik Jena gives the net atomic absorption. Because of this, and be-
6 3 BACKGROUND ABSORPTION AND BACKGROUND CORRECTION
cause of the use of additional devices in the spectrometer, is measured. The advantages of this technique are
the signal-to-noise ratio of background-corrected signals
is always signicantly inferior compared to uncorrected 1. that total and background absorption are measured
signals. It should also be pointed out that in LS AAS there with the same emission prole of the same lamp, so
is no way to correct for (the rare case of) a direct overlap that any kind of background, including background
of two atomic lines. In essence there are three techniques with ne structure can be corrected accurately, un-
used for background correction in LS AAS: less the molecule responsible for the background is
also aected by the magnetic eld
3.1.1 Deuterium background correction 2. using a chopper as a polariser reduces the signal
to noise ratio. While the disadvantages are the in-
This is the oldest and still most commonly used technique, creased complexity of the spectrometer and power
particularly for ame AAS. In this case, a separate source supply needed for running the powerful magnet
(a deuterium lamp) with broad emission is used to mea- needed to split the absorption line.
sure the background absorption over the entire width of
the exit slit of the spectrometer. The use of a separate
lamp makes this technique the least accurate one, as it 3.2 Background correction techniques in
cannot correct for any structured background. It also can- HR-CS AAS
not be used at wavelengths above about 320 nm, as the
emission intensity of the deuterium lamp becomes very In HR-CS AAS background correction is carried out
weak. The use of deuterium HCL is preferable compared mathematically in the software using information from
to an arc lamp due to the better t of the image of the for- detector pixels that are not used for measuring atomic
mer lamp with that of the analyte HCL. absorption; hence, in contrast to LS AAS, no additional
components are required for background correction.
3.1.2 Smith-Hieftje background correction
3.2.1 Background correction using correction pixels
This technique (named after their inventors) is based on
the line-broadening and self-reversal of emission lines It has already been mentioned that in HR-CS AAS lamp
from HCL when high current is applied. Total absorp- icker noise is eliminated using correction pixels. In fact,
tion is measured with normal lamp current, i.e., with a any increase or decrease in radiation intensity that is ob-
narrow emission line, and background absorption after served to the same extent at all pixels chosen for correc-
application of a high-current pulse with the prole of the tion is eliminated by the correction algorithm. This obvi-
self-reversed line, which has little emission at the original ously also includes a reduction of the measured intensity
wavelength, but strong emission on both sides of the an- due to radiation scattering or molecular absorption, which
alytical line. The advantage of this technique is that only is corrected in the same way. As measurement of total
one radiation source is used; among the disadvantages are and background absorption, and correction for the latter,
that the high-current pulses reduce lamp lifetime, and that are strictly simultaneous (in contrast to LS AAS), even the
the technique can only be used for relatively volatile el- fastest changes of background absorption, as they may be
ements, as only those exhibit sucient self-reversal to observed in ET AAS, do not cause any problem. In ad-
avoid dramatic loss of sensitivity. Another problem is dition, as the same algorithm is used for background cor-
that background is not measured at the same wavelength rection and elimination of lamp noise, the background
as total absorption, making the technique unsuitable for corrected signals show a much better signal-to-noise ra-
correcting structured background. tio compared to the uncorrected signals, which is also in
contrast to LS AAS.
sample spectrum using a least-squares algorithm. This B.V. Lvov (1984), Twenty-ve years of furnace
might sound complex, but rst of all the number of di- atomic absorption spectroscopy, Spectrochim. Acta
atomic molecules that can exist at the temperatures of Part B, 39: 149157.
the atomizers used in AAS is relatively small, and second,
the correction is performed by the computer within a few B.V. Lvov (2005), Fifty years of atomic absorption
seconds. The same algorithm can actually also be used to spectrometry; J. Anal. Chem., 60: 382392.
correct for direct line overlap of two atomic absorption H. Massmann (1968), Vergleich von Atomabsorp-
lines, making HR-CS AAS the only AAS technique that tion und Atomuoreszenz in der Graphitkvette,
can correct for this kind of spectral interference. Spectrochim. Acta Part B, 23: 215226.
W. Slavin, D.C. Manning, G.R. Carnrick (1981),
4 See also The stabilized temperature platform furnace, At.
Spectrosc. 2: 137145.
Absorption spectroscopy B. Welz, H. Becker-Ross, S. Florek, U. Heit-
mann (2005), High-resolution Continuum Source
Beer-Lambert law AAS, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany, ISBN 3-
Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry 527-30736-2.
6 Further reading
B. Welz, M. Sperling (1999), Atomic Absorption
Spectrometry, Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, Germany,
ISBN 3-527-28571-7.
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