Radioluminescence detector for the flow injection determination of phosphorus as vanadomolybdophosphoric acid Original Research Article

A radioluminescent light source has been used in a detector for the flow injection (FI) determination of phosphorus by means of the vanadomolybdophosphoric (VMP) acid spectrophotometric method. A comparison with previous studies in which lamp-based instrumentation was utilized proves that radioluminescence (RL) is a viable alternative source. RL enables the design of compact, inexpensive light sources for spectroscopic studies. Through the selection of a radioisotope and scintillation medium, the spectral and temporal characteristics of the source can be chosen independently. In this study, a broadband radioluminescent source provided detection limits similar to those of conventional lamp-based detectors while increasing the dynamic range of the method. Possible interferences caused by the use of a broadband light source have been explored as a function of the spectral region employed.