Low-pressure helium inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: sample aerosol introduction through a capillary interface from a vibrating mesh nebulizer

An ultrasonic nebulizer with a capillary interface was developed for aqueous sample analysis by low-pressure helium-ICP-MS. An aqueous sample solution was converted into aerosol ranged from 1 to 8 µm, in which the 5-µm particles occupied 80% of the entire volume by ultrasonic nebulizer under atmospheric pressure conditions. Then, the aerosol was transported to a desolvation unit by the nebulizer gas. The aerosol was desolvated by passing through a heated tube and condenser. The resulting dry aerosol was introduced into the low-pressure helium-ICP-MS through the PTFE capillary for the determination of analytes. The proposed method was successfully applied to solution nebulization into the low-pressure ICP-MS.