Determination of Trace Impurities of Rare Earth Elements in High-Purity Y_2O_3, Eu_2O_3 and Tb_4O_7 by Spark Source Mass Spectrometry

This work is the determination of trace rare-earth elements in high-purity yttrium oxide, europium oxide, and terbium oxide by spark source mass spectrometry (SSMS). Relative sensitivity factors (RSF Pd=1.0) are determined by using SPEX MIX—1031.The commercial high-purity Y_2O_3 (99.99%), Eu_2O_3 (99.95%) and Tb_4O_7 (99.9%) mixed in an equal amount of graphite powder, and then pressed into electrodes as the sample materials.The limits of detection are 0. 07ppm for La, Tb; 0.1ppm for Ce, Eu, Ho, Tin, Lu; 0.06 ppm for Pr; 0.4 ppm for Nd, Sin, Dy, Yb; 0.6 ppm for Gd; 0.3 ppm for Er. The results obtained by this method are better than those obtained by inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy (IC-AES). This study shows that the theoretical content of each care-earth impurities conform to the experimental one, so without the standard sample the quantitative anlysisof rare-earth clement is possible.