The analysis of Pb isotopes is used in several fields, including ore formation studies, environmental studies and U–Pb geochronology. But sample sizes can also be very small, making precise measurements difficult. One method to compensate for this, is adding silicagel as an ionisation activator for Pb isotopic analysis. Magdalena H. Huyskens, Tsuyoshi Iizuka and Yuri Amelin at The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia, have run a series of tests, comparing three commercially available colloidal silicagels. Read their results by clicking on the title below.
Huyskens et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
Evaluation of colloidal silicagels for lead isotopic measurements using thermal ionisation mass spectrometry
Magdalena H. Huyskens, Tsuyoshi Iizuka and Yuri Amelin
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA30083D
