Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Evaluation of number concentration quantification by single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: microsecond vs. millisecond dwell times

  • Research Paper
  • Published:
Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The quality of the quantitative information in single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (SP-ICP-MS) depends directly on the number concentration of the nanoparticles in the sample analyzed, which is proportional to the flux of nanoparticles through the plasma. Particle number concentrations must be selected in accordance with the data acquisition frequency, to control the precision from counting statistics and the bias, which is produced by the occurrence of multiple-particle events recorded as single-particle events. With quadrupole mass spectrometers, the frequency of data acquisition is directly controlled by the dwell time. The effect of dwell times from milli- to microseconds (10 ms, 5 ms, 100 μs, and 50 μs) on the quality of the quantitative data has been studied. Working with dwell times in the millisecond range, precision figures about 5 % were achieved, whereas using microsecond dwell times, the suitable fluxes of nanoparticles are higher and precision was reduced down to 1 %; this was independent of the dwell time selected. Moreover, due to the lower occurrence of multiple-nanoparticle events, linear ranges are wider when dwell times equal to or shorter than 100 μs are used. A calculation tool is provided to determine the optimal concentration for any instrument or experimental conditions selected. On the other hand, the use of dwell times in the microsecond range reduces significantly the contribution of the background and/or the presence of dissolved species, in comparison with the use of millisecond dwell times. Although the use of dwell times equal to or shorter than 100 μs offers improved performance working in single-particle mode, the use of conventional dwell times (3–10 ms) should not be discarded, once their limitations are known.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Degueldre C, Favarger P-Y. Colloid analysis by single particle inductively coupled plasma-mass spectroscopy: a feasibility study. Colloids Surf A Physicochem Eng Asp. 2003;217:137–42.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Heithmar EM, Pergantis SA. Characterizing concentrations and size distributions of metal-containing nanoparticles in waste water, EPA/600/R-10/117. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; 2010.

  3. Laborda F, Jiménez-Lamana J, Bolea E, Castillo JR. Selective identification, characterization and determination of dissolved silver(I) and silver nanoparticles based on single particle detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. J Anal At Spectrom. 2011;26:1362–71.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Pace HE, Rogers NJ, Jarolimek C, Coleman VA, Higgins CP, Ranville JF. Determining transport efficiency for the purpose of counting and sizing nanoparticles via single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Anal Chem. 2011;83:9361–9.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Laborda F, Bolea E, Jiménez-Lamana J. Single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: a powerful tool for nanoanalysis. Anal Chem. 2014;86:2270–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Peters R, Herrera-Rivera Z, Undas A, van der Lee M, Marvin H, Bouwmeester H, et al. Single particle ICP-MS combined with a data evaluation tool as a routine technique for the analysis of nanoparticles in complex matrices. J Anal At Spectrom. 2015;30:1274–85.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Hineman A, Stephan C. Effect of dwell time on single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry data acquisition quality. J Anal At Spectrom. 2014;29:1252–7.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Montaño MD, Badiei HR, Bazargan S, Ranville JF. Improvements in the detection and characterization of engineered nanoparticles using spICP-MS with microsecond dwell times. Environ Sci Nano. 2014;1:338–46.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Olesik JW, Gray PJ. Considerations for measurement of individual nanoparticles or microparticles by ICP-MS: determination of the number of particles and the analyte mass in each particle. J Anal At Spectrom. 2013;27:1143–55.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Tuoriniemi J, Cornelis G, Hassellöv M. Size discrimination and detection capabilities of single-particle ICPMS for environmental analysis of silver nanoparticles. Anal Chem. 2012;84:3965–72.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Laborda F, Jiménez-Lamana J, Bolea E, Castillo JR. Critical considerations for the determination of nanoparticle number concentrations, size and number size distributions by single particle ICP-MS. J Anal At Spectrom. 2013;28:1220–32.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Cornelis G, Hassellöv M. A signal deconvolution method to discriminate smaller nanoparticles in single particle ICP-MS. J Anal At Spectrom. 2014;29:134–44.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  13. Lee S, Bi X, Reed RB, Ranville JF, Herckes P, Westerhoff P. Nanoparticle size detection limits by single particle ICP-MS for 40 elements. Environ Sci Technol. 2014;48:10291–300.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  14. Hadioui M, Peyrot C, Wilkinson KJ. Improvements to single particle ICPMS by the online coupling of ion exchange resins. Anal Chem. 2014;86:4668–74.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Laborda F, Medrano J, Castillo JR. Quality of quantitative and semiquantitative results in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. J Anal At Spectrom. 2001;16:732–8.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Laborda F, Medrano J, Castillo JR. Influence of the number of calibration points on the quality of results in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. J Anal At Spectrom. 2004;19:1434–41.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank D.M. Escala (Group of Non-linear Physics, University of Santiago de Compostela, Spain) for developing the MatLab programs for data processing.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Group of Analytical Spectroscopy and Sensors (GEAS), Institute of Environmental Sciences (IUCA), University of Zaragoza, Pedro Cerbuna 12, 50009, Zaragoza, Spain

    Isabel Abad-Álvaro, Eduardo Bolea, Juan R. Castillo & Francisco Laborda

  2. Group of Trace Elements, Spectroscopy and Speciation (GETEE), Department of Analytical Chemistry, Nutrition and Bromatology, University of Santiago de Compostela, Avda. Das Ciencias, s/n, 15782, Santiago de Compostela, Spain

    Isabel Abad-Álvaro, Elena Peña-Vázquez & Pilar Bermejo-Barrera

Authors
  1. Isabel Abad-Álvaro
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Elena Peña-Vázquez
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Eduardo Bolea
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Pilar Bermejo-Barrera
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Juan R. Castillo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Francisco Laborda
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Francisco Laborda.

Ethics declarations

Funding

This work was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness, projects CTQ2012-38091-C02-01, CTQ2012-38091-C02-02, CTQ2015-68094-C2-1-R and CTQ2015-68094-C2-2-R.

Conflict of interest

The Syngistix™ Nano Application Module was provided by Perkin Elmer.

Additional information

Published in the topical collection Single-particle-ICP-MS Advances with guest editors Antonio R. Montoro Bustos and Michael R. Winchester.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

ESM 1

(PDF 9.53 kb)

ESM 2

(XLSX 26 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Abad-Álvaro, I., Peña-Vázquez, E., Bolea, E. et al. Evaluation of number concentration quantification by single-particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: microsecond vs. millisecond dwell times. Anal Bioanal Chem 408, 5089–5097 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-9515-y

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-016-9515-y

Keywords

Search

Navigation