S.M. Chernonozhkin, T. Van Acker, S.J.M. Van Malderen, J. Belza, S. Goderis and F. Vanhaecke. Analytical capabilities of LA-ICP-ToF-MS for ultra-fast 2D quantitative elemental mapping of micrometeorites // J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2024, doi.org/10.1039/D3JA00335C
Time-of-flight ICP-mass spectrometry (ICP-ToF-MS) is a new generation of an analytical tool that helps us quickly measure almost all the elements on the periodic table in a very short time, typically a few tens of microseconds. When we pair it with a special fast laser system (laser ablation or LA), we can measure detailed element distribution maps in two dimensions with resolution of only few micrometers. This is like taking a snapshot of a periodic table on the surface of a sample with each laser pulse, where each spot the laser hits represents a pixel in the multi-element map. Even though this method is becoming more popular in geosciences for 2D element mapping, people often believe that it is only capable to produce rough “semi-quantitative” estimates of concentrations.
In our study, we used LA-ICP-ToF-MS for ultra-fast high-resolution 2D element mapping of geological materials and tiny micrometeorites. We were not only able to create detailed multi-element 2D distribution maps of rare Antarctic micrometeorites with a resolution of few micrometers. Importantly, our results show that after using appropriate calibration methods, extremely small amounts of elements can be detected within the element maps, down to a dozen nanogramms per gram. Moreover, repeated analysis of standard materials in a period of over a year demonstrates that the measured concentrations were very consistent, showing a precision of down to 3%.
In future, LA-ICP-ToF-MS can become more important for the elemental analysis of valuable or
rare extraterrestial materials (e.g., future asteroid, Moon or Mars return missions).
https://pubs.rsc.org/en/content/articlelanding/2024/ja/d3ja00335c