Negative Thermionen-Massenspektrometrie von Selen

Summary Negative thermal ionization is used to determine the selenium isotope ratios in a double-filament ion source. A thin film of barium hydroxide on the rhenium ionization filament is applied to increase the Se^– thermal ion current. The produced Se^– ion beam is by a factor of about four higher when selenious acid instead of barium selenite or sodium selenate is used. A strong dependence of the ion current on the temperature of the ionization filament is found showing the maximum ion intensity at temperatures of 970–1000 C. The different selenium isotope ratios of samples with natural isotopic abundance can be determined with relative standard deviations of 0.3–0.6%. This reproducibility is a good basis to improve the accuracy of the selenium atomic weight in the future by a calibrated measurement. An enriched ⁸²Se spike is used to analyse selenium traces in aquatic systems with isotope dilution mass spectrometry down to the pg/g level. In the concentration range of 4–23 ng/g the selenium content is determined with relative standard deviations of 0.1–5%. The results agree well with those obtained with a hydride generation atomic absorption system. It is shown that the described method of isotope dilution mass spectrometry analyses the sum of the inorganic species selenate, selenite and selenide, but not volatile organic selenium compounds.

---

---

Herrn Prof. Dr. W. Fresenius zum 75. Geburtstag gewidmet