Determination of Rare Earth Elements in Plant Samples by ICP-MS with Microwave Digestion

Abstract

Method of microwave digestion using HNO3, HCl and HF in MARS‑5 system followed by ICP-MS analysis is proposed for determination of rare earth elements (REE) in plant materials. Limits of detection are 0.0001–0.001 ppm and allow for determination of all REE in certified reference materials Tr‑1, LB‑1 and EK‑1 and new reference material NSP‑1, relative standard deviations are lower than 13 %.Influence of HF addition during microwave digestion in UltraWAVE system on the ICP-MS analysis of REE in plant materials depending on silica content is studied. Necessity of HF addition during microwave digestion for better REE recoveries is shown for plant materials with Si contents exceeding 0.1 %