RESUMO
Laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was used for the rapid analysis of mercury in sediment samples. The ground samples were simply briquetted prior to laser ablation. The effects of internal standardization, particle size and elemental speciation on the analytical performance were investigated. Direct analysis of sediment samples without internal standardization could yield satisfactory results. Elemental speciation and particle size within the studied range did not significantly affect the measurements. The calibration curve was obtained simply by analyzing one soil and two sediment reference materials. With the proposed LA-ICP-MS system, a detection limit of 0.02 mg x kg(-1) was achieved with a sample through put of 10 h(-1). Analytical results of sediment samples using the current system were in good agreement with those by isotope dilution hydride-generation ICP-MS.
