Determination of trace rare earth elements in coal fly ash and atmospheric particulates by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with slurry sampling

A method of fluorination assisted electrothermal vaporization (FETV)-ICP-MS with polytetrafluoroethylene as fluorinating reagent was developed for the direct determination of trace rare earth elements (REEs) in coal fly ash and atmospheric particulates. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits for REEs were 0.1 pg m−3(Eu) to 6.7 pg m−3(Nd) with the precisions of 4.1%(Yb) to 10%(La) (c = 1 μg L−1, n = 9). The proposed method was applied to determine trace REEs in coal fly ash, airborne particulates and NIES SRM No. 8 Vehicle Exhaust Particulates. It was found that the determined values for Y, La, Pr and Nd obtained by slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with external calibration coincided with that obtained by pneumatic nebulization (PN)-ICP-MS and slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with standard addition. However, the determined values for Ce and Sm obtained by slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with external calibration were lower than that obtained by PN-ICP-MS and slurry sampling FETV-ICP-MS with standard addition.