Laser ablation in liquids: an efficient sample preparation technique in ICP elemental analysis of art materials

Laser ablation in liquid media is proposed as a new sample preparation technique in elemental composition analysis of art pigments using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectroscopy (ICP-OES). Solid samples are transformed to colloidal solutions of nanosized analyte particles. This makes the technique compatible with convevtional solutionbased standardization. The dissociation of particles in solution is improved, which increases the accuracy of quantitative ICP measurements.