Direct polymer analysis by radio frequency glow discharge spectrometry

Of all the samples matrices commonly encountered in the field of elemental analysis, polymeric materials present some of the greatest challenges regarding sample introduction and quantification. The same chemical properties which make the application of polymers so attractive across a broad spectrum of systems, also greatly restrict the possible chemical methods for their decomposition/dissolution for traditional solution (nebulization) based spectroscopic methods. By the same token, the diversity of physical characteristics in the solid state wreak havoc with solid sampling methods based on charged particle or photon beams. It is also important to realize that both elemental and molecular species information are required in many polymer analyses. Radio frequency glow discharge (rf-GD) sources have some unique characteristics which make them an attractive means for performing both elemental and molecular composition analysis of polymeric materials. This is true for both bulk polymers and polymer films. Many of these characteristics will be discussed here with respect to solving analytical problems, which are in many cases intractable by other methods, even outside of the realm of atomic spectrometry.