AVS 62nd International Symposium & Exhibition
    Plasma Science and Technology Thursday Sessions
       Session PS-ThP

Paper PS-ThP10
The Development of a Pin-to-Droplet Plasma Generation Device for Detection of Metallic Ions in Aqueous Solutions

Thursday, October 22, 2015, 6:00 pm, Room Hall 3

Session: Plasma Science and Technology Poster Session
Presenter: Min-Chun Chen, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Republic of China
Authors: M.C. Chen, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Republic of China
C.C. Hsu, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, Republic of China
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This work presents a simple set-up and potentially portable plasma generation device for the detection of metallic ions by optical emission spectrometry. This device consists of a needle-type power electrode and a droplet on a metal plate as the ground electrode. With a precisely control of the pin-to-droplet distance of 0.1 to 0.3 mm, the plasma can be ignited with a 2 kV DC voltage in ambient air without the need of any purging gases. . With this device, detection of metallic ions in aqueous solutions can be performed by analyzing the plasma emission spectroscopy with a sample amount as small as 5 μL. Na, Li and K ions with a concentration as low as 20, 70, and 400 μg/L, respectively, can be detected. This detection limit can be significantly decreased when the metallic ions are dissolved in acid such as HNO3 or HCl. The sensitivity for optical emission spectrometry of different metallic ion is Na>Li>K>Cu>Zn. A linear calibration curve with a concentration between 2 and 2000 mg/L for Na ion by correlating the normalized metallic emission intensities and the concentration has been established. Finally, the potential using this device as a battery-powered and portable analytical tool will be discussed.