Multi-element high pixel density images using a time of flight ICP-MS and fast washout laser ablation technology with all argon and nitrogen interferences removed using a novel segmented reaction cell interference removal device

Abstract:

Time of Flight (TOF) ICP-MS is developing rapidly with the recent availability of very fast washout laser ablation cells for imaging and the growing requirement to characterise nanoparticles for multi-element content in individual particles. As TOF is a pseudo-simultaneous data acquisition technique, sampling the whole ion beam from the source in packets, there are several difficulties in using a TOF with the highly “bright” ICP source. This presentation will describe the ways in which the Nu Instrument Vitesse has overcome the classical difficulties of using a TOF in an ICP-MS and how the data acquisition system has been optimised for the most rigorous demands of nanoparticle and imaging analyses with application examples.

The latest laser ablation cells have washout times of only a few milliseconds allowing complete pixel separation of signals whilst ablating at repetition rates of 50-200Hz. This makes collecting a small spot-size, large area image a much faster task. However, a lot of information is lost if multiple elements cannot be collected for each image and some samples such as cell tissues become completely consumed by the single ablation so all information must be collected for each shot. TOF is the optimal mass spectrometer for imaging as full spectra can be collected faster than the laser is ablating and each image pixel can be constructed from simultaneously acquired multi-element data. We will present the ways in which Vitesse is used with the latest laser cells to obtain high density images quickly and easily.

Data will be shown for a variety of sample types for a broad range of applications and matrices.