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Paper published: Analysis of TCEs in plant reference materials

Team TecEUS
10 January 2023

The validated measurement procedure applied for all plant samples of the project was published in Analytical and Bioanalytical Chemistry in a paper entitled “Determination of 48 elements in 7 plant CRMs by ICP-MS/MS with a focus on technology-critical elements” by Simone Trimmel, Thomas C. Meisel, Shaun T. Lancaster, Thomas Prohaska and Johanna Irrgeher (all Montanuniversität Leoben): https://link.springer.com.

7 plant certified reference materials (CRMs) were analysed for their mass fractions of 48 elements, with a particular focus on TCEs, namely Li, Be, Ga, Ge, Nb, Sb, Ta, Tl, Bi and the rare-earth elements (REEs, i.e., lanthanides and Y). The selected CRMs cover different kinds of plant matrices and a wide range of mass fractions. After microwave-assisted digestion of 16 replicates of each CRM with HNO3, H2O2 and HBF4, ICP-MS/MS analysis with N2O as cell gas was performed.

In addition to providing an optimised measurement procedure for rarely studied elements, the article improves the characterisation of commonly used plant CRMs.