Combination of cool plasma and collision-reaction interface for correction of polyatomic interferences on copper signals in inductively coupled plasma quadrupole mass spectrometry

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is an important instrumental technique for elemental analysis. However, some elements suffer from spectral interferences caused by ions derived from argon plasma gas and matrix components. The determination of copper isotopes is affected by 40Ar23Na+ and 40Ar25Mg+. The performance of an ICP-MS with a collision reaction interface (CRI) and cool plasma conditions for correction of spectral interferences was evaluated here. The efficiency of the CRI was studied introducing H2 or He through sampler and skimmer cones. Gas introduction through the sampler cone was ineffective. Complete elimination of spectral interferences was reached when introducing 60 or 80 mL min−1 of H2 in the skimmer cone, but sensitivity losses were as large as 99%. Further, the effect of interferences was checked when the argon plasma was operated under cool plasma conditions. The effects of the applied radiofrequency (0.6, 0.8, 0.9, and 1.0 kW), sampling depth (5.5, 8.5 and 11.5 mm), and dwell time (25 and 50 ms) were studied considering interference reduction and sensitivities. Best conditions were reached at 0.8 kW. Subsequently, both CRI and cool plasma conditions were combined to evaluate their performance on reduction of polyatomic Na and Mg argide interferences. Spectral interferences were eliminated using a CRI with 20 mL min−1 H2 introduced through the skimmer cone, cool plasma conditions at 0.8 kW and sampling depth of 8.5 mm. This work demonstrated the feasibility of combining CRI and cool plasma for circumventing some spectral interferences on Cu determination by ICP-QMS.