title: Use of sol-gels as solid matrixes for trace analysis by UV laser ablation and laser-enhanced ionization detection.
abstract: Zirconium and silicon sol-gels were investigated as solid materials for trace elemental analysis of pelletized solid samples by laser ablation and laser-enhanced ionization. The highly homogeneous dispersion of an internal standard spiked in the solid material obtained with the sol-gel formation process leads to a significant improvement in signal repeatability and to an increase in the precision of measurements through better correction of variations in the laser ablation rate. Signal repeatability values of 5-8% RSD were obtained for Pb in NIST 1632c Bituminous Coal sample pellets prepared using both sol-gels, as compared to 9-21% for graphite-based sample pellets. Furthermore, the zirconium sol-gel was shown to offer better resilience to signal bias due to preferential ablation and a more accurate correction of ablation rate using the internal standardization method.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Centre d'optique, Photonique et Laser (COPL), Université Laval, Quebec City, PQ, Canada G1K 7P4.
authors.forename: Mathieu L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Viger
authors.forename: Jean-François Y
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Gravel
authors.forename: Danny
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Brouard
authors.forename: Diane
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Beauchemin
authors.forename: Denis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Boudreau