To help ensure the quality and safety of drinking water, the international standard method ISO 17294 outlines the analysis of elements using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), providing the general directions for the use of the ICP-MS technique.
In comparison to other analytical techniques, ICP-MS has the advantages of multi-element detection, low detection limits, high speed of analysis, wide dynamic range, etc. However, it is affected by plasma and matrix-based polyatomic interferences and doubly charged species, which need to be accounted for by applying mathematical corrections and/or using collision/reaction mechanisms. The NexION® 1100 ICP-MS, equipped with Universal Cell Technology (UCT), can be operated in both Collision mode with kinetic energy discrimination (KED) and Reaction mode with dynamic reaction cell (DRC) to tackle polyatomic interferences.
This work demonstrates the ability of the NexION 1100 ICP-MS to meet and/or exceed the specifications outlined in ISO 17294-2 for the multi-elemental analysis of drinking water.