Determination of 36 Trace Elements in 56 Chinese National Standard Reference Materials by ICP-MS with Pressurized Acid-Digestion

The accuracy of the certified values of the national reference materials plays an important role in instrument calibration, and therefore quality control for analysis data. In order to test the accuracy of the certified values of the Chinese National Standard Reference Materials, 36 trace elements were determined for 18 National Standard Reference Materials of rock (from GBW 07103 to GBW 07125), 19 National Standard Reference Materials of sediment (from GBW 07301 to GBW 07318) and 19 National Standard Reference Materials of soil (from GBW 07401 to GBW 07430) by Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS). These National Standard Reference Materials were digested by using the pressurized acid digestion technique. The relative standard deviation (RSD) of most trace elements in these materials were typically better than 10%, except for Ni, Cr, Pb, Co, Cu, Sc, Yb and Lu in several reference materials. Most of the results were consistent with the certified values in the literature, and with a relative error of less than 10%. Results given here indicate that a few certified values of some reference materials should be revised. In addition, content values of some trace elements in the National Standard Reference Materials of sediment or National Standard Reference Materials of soil, such as Ni for GBW 07306, Be, Hf and Ta for GBW 07313, Li and Be for GBW 07314, Hf and Ta for GBW 07409, GBW 07410 and GBW 07411, Gd and Ta for GBW 07426 are provided here.