Beam injection flame furnace atomic absorption spectrometry: a new flame method

A new flame method of atomic absorption spectrometry is described. The liquid sample to be analyzed is transported as a high-speed liquid jet into a heated tube which is positioned in an air/acetylene flame. The jet is generated by means of an HPLC pump which feeds a smooth jet nozzle having a diameter of 50 microns or smaller. After traveling a distance of 10 cm, the liquid jet enters a small sample introduction hole, impacts onto the opposite inner wall of the tube furnace, and immediately vaporizes (jet impact vaporization, JIV). Both the complete introduction of the entire sample and the extended residence time inside the absorption volume result in an improvement in power of detection from 6- to 202-fold for 17 elements (Ag, As, Au, Bi, Cd, Cu, Hg, In, K, Pb, Pd, Rb, Sb, Se, Te, Tl, Zn). A standard deviation of 1.7-4.0% (n = 12, 50 microL) was achieved. Sample volumes between 10 microL and 1 mL have been investigated. For 50 microL sample volumes, the sampling frequency is 4/min. The new method can also be considered a simple, effective interface between HPLC and flame AAS.