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This review of 200 references covers developments in 'Atomic Spectrometry' published in the twelve months from December 2021 to November 2022 inclusive. It covers atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometry, but excludes material on speciation and coupled techniques which is included in a separate review. It should be read in conjunction with the previous review1 and the other related reviews in the series.1–6 A critical approach to the selection of material has been adopted, with only novel developments in instrumentation, techniques and methodology being included. After several years of consolidation of research in the area of elemental tagging, with very similar variations on the same themes being published, this has now evolved to include detection at the cellular level. This is largely a result of advances in single particle-ICP-MS and LA-ICP-MS mapping, coupled with multiple tagging approaches. These combined methods are very useful for diagnostics and imaging and perhaps show the way forward for this type of analysis. A more comprehensive assessment of the range of factors affecting the accuracy of isotope ratio determinations of non-radiogenic isotopes has been in evidence. Where corrections could not be made, some studies specified a range of concentration or molarity in which results remained within tolerance. In the future, this type of assessment should lead to more robust uncertainty estimates and potentially reduce the possibility of samples with erroneous deviations in their stable isotopes measurements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review of 166 references covers developments in ‘Atomic Spectrometry’ published in the twelve months from November 2016 to November 2017 inclusive. It covers atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometry, but excludes material on speciation and coupled techniques which is included in a separate review. It should be read in conjunction with the previous review and the other related reviews in the series. A critical approach to the selection of material has been adopted, with only novel developments in instrumentation, techniques and methodology being included. Novel trends are evenly spread across the techniques this year, with no single ‘bandwagon’ rolling ahead of the rest. The most significant development seems to be the advance of 2D and 3D imaging using LA-ICP-MS, and the challenges associated with how to process the large amounts of data produced. In this context, there were some useful reports of user-friendly software for imaging large datasets and methods of compressed sensing to reduce the amount of data in the first place. Single particle analysis using ICP-MS is now well established in the literature which, as well as being a useful technique for particle analysis in its own right, it also offer interesting insights into the mechanisms of atomisation and ionisation in the ICP. New methods of vapour generation using a plasma as both vapour generation and excitation/ionisation cell show some promise for the analysis of single drops of solution using a relatively simple, miniaturised instrumental set-up. Methods for IR-ICP-MS of non-radiogenic isotopes continues to grow, with more elements being added to the list in this review period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review covers developments in ‘Atomic Spectrometry’. It covers atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometry, but excludes material on speciation and coupled techniques which is included in a separate review. It should be read in conjunction with the previous review1 and the other related reviews in the series.2–6 A critical approach to the selection of material has been adopted, with only novel developments in instrumentation, techniques and methodology being included. One of the major developments which has gained traction over the past few years is the use of elemental tagging for the relative and absolute quantification of biological molecules using ICP-MS. This has advanced to the stage where it is now routinely used as an assay technique. A number of variations on this approach have also been developed in order to improve sensitivity by amplification of the signal, particularly for polynucleotide analysis. Single particle analysis by ICP-MS and ICP-AES has been used to gain some valuable insights into the atomisation and ionisation processes occurring in the ICP, as well as providing a means of quantification of nanoparticles. The dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) has attracted interest as a compact, low-power, microplasma source for MS and AES, following the trend for all things miniature, as well as for direct analysis of liquids. The use of MC-ICP-MS is the driver behind advances in the isotope ratio analysis of natural stable isotopes of metallic elements. Double spiking is an expanding method to neutralise instrumental and procedural mass-dependent fractionation in both stable and radiogenic isotope systems. An overlap is emerging between the measurement of uranium isotope variation in natural systems and the U isotope determination for the nuclear forensic or monitoring/safeguarding fields. Coincident analytical techniques between these fields is likely to produce useful advances in the analysis of nuclear materials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review covers developments in ‘Atomic Spectrometry’. It covers atomic emission, absorption, fluorescence and mass spectrometry, but excludes material on speciation and coupled techniques which is included in a separate review. It should be read in conjunction with the other related reviews in the series.1–6 A critical approach to the selection of material has been adopted, with only novel developments in instrumentation, techniques and methodology being included. Developments worthy of note include photochemical and electrochemical methods of vapour generation, single particle analysis using ICP-MS and the development of new methods for direct plasma generation in liquid samples. The use of MC-ICP-MS continues to grow in importance for isotope ratio measurements in fields as diverse as geochronology, nuclear forensics and biomedical research. Laser-based methods are also important in many fields, particularly for direct and stand-off analysis of solid samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]