Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy analysis of sodium in pelletised pasture samples

Sodium concentration in plants inhibit shoot and root growth. Traditional wet-chemical methods of determining elemental concentrations require pre-treatment and leave unwanted by-products. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is a technique that needs very little pre-treatment and produces no secondary waste. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy is used in this work to determine sodium concentrations in dried pasture samples. Temperature correction on the gathered spectra was attempted using Boltzmann and Saha-Boltzmann plots. These methods failed to deliver satisfactory results. Different combinations of internal reference standards were used on the Na I 818.326 nm line which resulted in an improved correlation with sodium concentration. Partial least squares regression was used on the gathered spectra to find emission lines that vary with the sodium concentration. Calcium, sodium, potassium and an argon line demonstrated high predictor weights. The Na I 818.326 nm, Na I 819.482 nm, K I 693.876 nm and K I 691.108 nm lines exhibited large dependence on sodium concentration. Building a calibration curve of sodium to potassium emission line intensity versus sodium to potassium concentration in the samples produced a correlation of R2 = 0.918 and an error in prediction of 0.0254.

[1]  F. J. Quintero,et al.  Plants and sodium ions: keeping company with the enemy , 2002, Genome Biology.

[2]  Awadhesh K. Rai,et al.  LIBS: A Quality Control Tool for Food Supplements , 2011 .

[3]  A. J. Stewart,et al.  Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy used to detect endophyte-mediated accumulation of metals by tall fescue , 2010 .

[4]  D. Hendrick,et al.  Introduction , 1998, Thorax.

[5]  J. Moros,et al.  Simultaneous Raman spectroscopy-laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for instant standoff analysis of explosives using a mobile integrated sensor platform. , 2010, Analytical chemistry.

[6]  D. Crosley,et al.  In uence of ambient conditions on the laser air spark , 1996, Laser Applications to Chemical, Security and Environmental Analysis.

[7]  A. K. Rai,et al.  Role of glycemic elements of Cynodon dactylon and Musa paradisiaca in diabetes management , 2009, Lasers in Medical Science.

[8]  D. Cremers,et al.  LIBS Analytical Figures of Merit and Calibration , 2013 .

[9]  D. Beddows,et al.  Single-pollen analysis by laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and Raman microscopy. , 2003, Applied optics.

[10]  J. Uebbing,et al.  Reheating of a Laser-Produced Plasma by a Second Pulse Laser , 1991 .

[11]  D. Cremers,et al.  Basics of the LIBS Plasma , 2006 .

[12]  Jez Willian Batista Braga,et al.  Comparison of univariate and multivariate calibration for the determination of micronutrients in pellets of plant materials by laser induced breakdown spectrometry , 2010 .

[13]  E. Blumwald.  Sodium transport and salt tolerance in plants. , 2000, Current opinion in cell biology.

[14]  Sumit Kumar,et al.  Sodium , 1998, The Lancet.

[15]  E. Tognoni,et al.  New Procedure for Quantitative Elemental Analysis by Laser-Induced Plasma Spectroscopy , 1999 .

[16]  Rasmus Bro,et al.  Standard error of prediction for multilinear PLS 2. Practical implementation in fluorescence spectroscopy , 2005 .

[17]  S. Thakur.  Chapter 2 – Atomic Emission Spectroscopy , 2007 .

[18]  S. Grattan,et al.  PLANT GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT UNDER SALINITY STRESS , 2007 .

[19]  Devendra Kumar Chauhan,et al.  Detection of Biogenic Silica in Leaf Blade, Leaf Sheath, and Stem of Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon) Using LIBS and Phytolith Analysis , 2011 .

[20]  Savino Longo,et al.  Laser induced breakdown spectroscopy on meteorites , 2007 .

[21]  Marcelo Martins Werneck,et al.  by Laser Ablation , 2011 .

[22]  Petr Babula,et al.  Utilization of laser‐assisted analytical methods for monitoring of lead and nutrition elements distribution in fresh and dried Capsicum annuum l. leaves , 2011, Microscopy research and technique.

[23]  R. Russo,et al.  Chapter 3 – Laser Ablation , 2007 .

[24]  Reinhard Niessner,et al.  Analysis of glass and glass melts during the vitrification process of fly and bottom ashes by laser-induced plasma spectroscopy. Part I: Normalization and plasma diagnostics , 1998 .