A DEVICE FOR THE DIRECT COUPLING OF HIGH-RESOLUTION SEPARATION TECHNIQUES WITH PIXE

Abstract The behaviour of elements (especially metals such as Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, etc.) in organisms and ecosystems can be studied in detail only if their bonding forms can be determined (speciation). Therefore, the combination of high-resolution separation techniques (e.g., capillary zone electrophoresis (CZE)) with PIXE should provide a powerful tool for the speciation analysis of metal-containing species. A device for this coupling is described. Its main constituent is a capillary with an “ion window” combined with a high-efficiency LEGe detector. With the presented experimental setup, detection limits down to 1 × 10 −5 M can be achieved.