title: Preparation of ultra-pure water and acids and investigation of background of an ICP-MS laboratory.
abstract: Ultra-pure water is prepared by distillation, and followed by ion exchange and passing through an E-PURE water purifier. The resulting ultra-pure water has an electrical conductivity of 18 MOmega. Ultra-pure nitric, hydrochloric, hydrofluoric and perchloric acids are prepared by sub-boiling distillation. Spectra for mass range 3-240 amu are scanned by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for tap, distilled, deionized and ultra-pure waters, and extra- and ultra-pure acids. The results show that the sub-boiling distillation greatly improves the quality of all the four acids under investigation. Metal impurities such as 75, 93, 121, 123, 134-138, 181 and 206-209 amu were remarkably reduced (sub-ppb level) after sub-boiling distillation. Configuration of peaks due to the formation of polyatomic ions was similar to the literature values reported elsewhere (S.H. Tan, G. Horlick, Appl. Spectrosc. 40 (4) (1986) 445).
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Earth Sciences, ICP-MS Laboratory, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Yuan
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hu
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tong
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gao