New high-tech equipment was put into operation at the Central Laboratory of the Karpinsky Institute

Atomic absorption spectrometry is a widely used method for analysing various materials for the content of a number of chemical elements. At the Central Laboratory of the Karpinsky Institute, the atomic absorption analysis is used to determine noble metals – gold, platinum, palladium.

Recently, a modern device was added to the atomic absorption spectrometers that have been operating for many years in the Central Laboratory – Agilent 240Z AA manufactured by Agilent Technologies.

The Agilent 240Z AA is one of the latest series of electrothermal atomization spectrometers.

This model implements a background correction system using the Zeeman effect. The corrector operates over the entire wavelength range and enables to suppress background noise and spectral side signals, cut the unstructured absorption, and introduce corrections in parts of the spectrum with a high background level.

Due to the original transverse shape of the magnetic field, the most accurate correction is achieved, and the background correction speed is twice as high as in traditional devices with a longitudinal magnetic field. Moreover, the device uses three-point polynomial interpolation.

The new spectrometer will enable the laboratory to increase the efficiency and quality of minerals analysis for noble metals.

Short historical reference:
The atomic absorption spectrometry development began back in 1955 with the work of A. Walsh. The theoretical foundations were laid by Russian scientist B.V. Lvov. This method is based on measuring the degree of radiation absorption from a standard light source by the atoms of the element being determined.

Atomic absorption spectrometry has opened up wide opportunities for reducing detection limits, increasing the accuracy, reproducibility, and rapidity of chemical elements determination. The first work on the use of the atomic absorption for the noble metals analysis appeared in 1959.

The practical implementation of the method and its hardware design, due to its high potential, developed very quickly: from primitive devices with flame atomization to modern ones that use electrothermal atomization for the analysis of low concentrations. These devices have thought out and implemented various methods for correcting background absorption, introducing the use of modifiers for complex matrices, which radically improves the quality of analyses.