Combination of single particle ICP-QMS and isotope dilution analysis for the determination of size, particle number and number size distribution of silver nanoparticles

Single particle ICP-MS (spICP-MS) has gained great influence in the analysis of engineered nanoparticles (NPs) due to its simplicity, speed and ability to obtain a particle number size distribution. Despite its many advantages, the method is hampered by matrix effects affecting the sensitivity of the instruments. Consequently, over- or underestimated particle sizes might be obtained. To overcome these challenges, we present in this work the detection of both Ag isotopes with a quadrupole mass spectrometer for the application of isotopic dilution analysis (IDA) in combination with spICP-MS. Here, the isotopes are measured sequentially using the conventional spICP-MS integration time of 10 ms. Citrate stabilized Ag NPs of a spherical shape with the nominal diameters of 30, 40, 50 and 80 nm have been investigated. The experimental concept of adding 109 Ag + solutions to the NP suspensions resulted in the NP spikes being only visible in the 107 Ag trace. Therefore, a maximum of 45% of the particles was detected compared to that by conventional spICP-MS. A modified mass flow equation was applied to determine the particle sizes, particle size distributions and particle number concentrations of various Ag NPs. The addition of different spike concentrations between 0.5 and 4 μg L −1 109 Ag resulted in similar particle diameters, suggesting that the calculated diameter might be independent of the spike concentration. This would have the advantage that no size information would be needed before the analysis. By analyzing Ag NP suspensions in a simulated seawater matrix, we demonstrate its significant influence on the particle size determination using conventional spICP-MS. A lower transport efficiency of 6.1% was found in the matrix compared to 7.3% without the matrix. In our approach, the addition of the matrix influenced the NP intensity stronger than the spike signal, resulting in slightly smaller diameters using IDA-spICP-MS with the matrix compared to the results without the matrix. On the other hand, the IDA-spICP-MS approach with the matrix can result in equivalent results for the particle sizes compared with conventional spICP-MS using suspensions without the matrix. Due to the lower instrument sensitivity in the matrix, a diameter of 30 nm was found to be close to the detection limit of the instrument. Successful compensation of matrix effects by a combination of single particle ICP-MS and isotope dilution analysis.