Reduction of oxide ions of uranium in single-filament surface-ionization mass spectrometry with application to rock samples》.pdf

Analytica Chimica Acta, 132 (1981) 209-213 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam - Printed in The Netherlands Short Communication REDUCTION OF OXIDE IONS OF URANIUM IN SINGLE-FILAMENT SURFACE-IONIZATION MASS SPECTROMETRY WITH APPLICATION TO ROCK SAMPLES M. H. KAKAZU, N. M. P. MORAES, S. S. IYER* and C. RODRIGUES Area de Processes Especiais, Institute de Pesquisas Energdticas e Nucleares, Caka Postal 11049. Pinheiros. So Paul0 (Brazil) (Received 20th July 1981) Summary. Ion-emission characteristics of a single-filament surface-ionization source for uranium are described_ It is shown that a graphite coating over uranium samples enhances reduction of oxides to II* and improves quantitative performance. Results obtained for uranium in several rock samples are in reasonable agreement with results reported by others. In surface-ionization mass spectrometry, the use of oxide ions for isotope abundance measurements causes errors because of the polyisotopic nature of oxygen and the possible isobaric interference from isotopes of other elements. In ion-emission studies of uranium atoms, Studier et al. [l] observed that a single-filament surface-ionization source suffers from the low emission of U’ ions in the absence of deliberately introduced reducing agents. With the use of a V-shaped single filament, Dietz and Hendrickson f2], NBS group [3] and Baldock [4] obtained a stable beam of U’ ions without any reducing agents. The V-shaped filament appears to be as efficient as a triple filament and it has been suggested that this is because it is equivalent to a triple fila- ment closed up 151. Fen