Fast digestion procedure for determination of catalyst residues in La- and Ni-based carbon nanotubes

A procedure based on microwave-induced combustion (MIC) was applied for carbon nanotube (CNT) digestion and further determination of La and Ni by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP OES). Samples (up to 400 mg) were completely combusted at 20 bar of oxygen, and a reflux step was applied to improve the analyte absorption. Combustion was finished in less than 50 s, and analytes were absorbed in diluted acid solution. Absorbing solutions ranging from 1 to 12 mol L(-1) for HCl and from 1 to 14 mol L(-1) HNO(3) were tested. Accuracy for both analytes was evaluated using certified reference materials and analyte spikes. Neutron activation analysis was also used to check accuracy for La. Agreement was better than 96% for La and Ni using a 4 mol L(-1) absorbing solution of HNO(3) or HCl and 15 min of reflux. The residual carbon content was lower than 0.5%. Up to eight samples could be digested simultaneously in 36 min, that makes the throughput using MIC more suitable when it is compared to the digestion by dry ashing as recommended by other procedures. The obtained limits of detection using MIC were lower than those using dry ashing, and a single absorbing solution, e.g., diluted HNO(3), can be used for simultaneous determination of La and Ni by ICP OES.