title: An improved non-destructive method of potassium determination.
abstract: The simplest non-destructive method of potassium determination is to co-relate the fixed abundance of naturally occurring (40)K with the total amount of potassium. Earlier this relationship was applied by measuring the β(-) activity of (40)K in a sample by Geiger counter. However, merely this simple linear relationship has been applied through gamma spectrometric measurement of (40)K activity, might be due to the huge interference of the (40)K background. We have demonstrated that heavily shielded Compton Suppressor System reduces the background in such extent that the total amount of K in a sample can be measured by measuring the area of the (40)K photo peak (at 1460.82 keV). The developed method requires neither chemical treatment of the sample like dissolution or digestion, nor irradiation of the sample in a nuclear reactor and therefore truly follows green chemistry principles, minimizing the chemicals and hazards. The method has been validated using NIST SRMs. The developed method was compared with WDXRF and ICPOES measurement.
authors.affiliation: Chemical Sciences Division, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India.
authors.forename: Moumita
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Maiti
authors.forename: Ajoy
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mandal
authors.forename: Susanta
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lahiri