Studies in atomic-fluorescence spectroscopy-VI The fluorescence characteristics and analytical determination of bismuth with an iodine electrodeless discharge tube as source

The atomic-fluorescence characteristics of bismuth atoms in cool nitrogen-hydrogen and argon-hydrogen diffusion flames burning in air are described. Excitation is obtained from the non-resonance iodine line at 2061.63 Å emitted by a microwave-excited electrodeless discharge tube operating at 2450 Mc/s. Fluorescence of the bismuth resonance line at 2061.70 Å is observed and also direct-line fluorescence at 2697 and 3025 A. In addition thirteen other much weaker lines were observed and two unidentified lines at 2880 and 2680 Å. The emissions at 2628 and 2938 Å appear to arise from “thermally assisted direct line fluorescence”. The most intense line at 3025 Å permits linear-dependence analytical atomic-fluorescence measurements to be made in the range 0.1–200 ppm with a detection limit of 0.05 ppm and with no problems of source scatter. No interference was observed from hundred-fold concentrations of fourteen ions. Matrix effects from aluminium and magnesium were overcome by raising the temperature of the cool diffusion flames. A bismuth microwave-excited electrodeless discharge tube was used as a source for atomic-absorption measurement in air-hydrogen and air-propane flames at 2231Å with a detection limit of 1 ppm and a linear-dependence analytical range of 10–100 ppm. With the iodine microwave-excited electrodeless discharge tube the detection limit for atomic absorption was 10 ppm at 2062 Å.