Determination of Ge, As, Se, Cd and Pb in plant materials by slurry sampling–electrothermal vaporization–inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry Original Research Article

Ultrasonic slurry sampling–electrothermal vaporization–inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (USS–ETV–ICP-MS) has been applied to the determination of Ge, As, Se, Cd and Pb in plant samples. The influences of instrument operating conditions and slurry preparation on the signals were reported. Since the sensitivities of the elements in various plant slurries were quite different, standard addition was used. Detection limits of Ge, As, Se, Cd and Pb estimated in different samples from the standard addition curve were in the range 2.1–14, 3.8–6.5, 14–18, 1.8–12, and 7.8–18 ng g−1, respectively. This method has been applied to the determination of Ge, As, Se, Cd and Pb in tomato leaves reference material (NIST SRM 1573a) and a ganoderma sample obtained from the local market. The analysis results of the tomato leaves reference sample did agree with the certified values. Precision was better than 24% for all determinations with the USS–ETV–ICP-MS method.