Royal Society of Chemistry

Table 1.1

Comparative advantages and limitations of the most common atomic ‘workhorses’ of dissolved sample analysis by optical spectrometry.

	FAAS	ETAAS	ICP‐OES
General advantages	Simple and reliable Most widespread Ideal for unielemental monitoring in small labs High throughput	Sub‐ppm (µg l^–1) DLs Microsa ples (<1 ml)	Multielemental High temperature High dynamic range Applicable also to some non‐metals
Cost	Low cost	Higher cost	High instrument cost
Limitations	Usually unielemental Sub‐ppm (mg l^–1) DLs Low temperature (refractory compounds) Applicable to metals and metalloids	Usually unielemental Time consuming Not easy to optimize Problems with background Applicable to metals and metalloids	Risk of spectral interferences Sub‐ppm–ppb DLs (worst than with ICP‐MS) Expensive to run

	FAAS	ETAAS	ICP‐OES
General advantages	Simple and reliable Most widespread Ideal for unielemental monitoring in small labs High throughput	Sub‐ppm (µg l^–1) DLs Microsa ples (<1 ml)	Multielemental High temperature High dynamic range Applicable also to some non‐metals
Cost	Low cost	Higher cost	High instrument cost
Limitations	Usually unielemental Sub‐ppm (mg l^–1) DLs Low temperature (refractory compounds) Applicable to metals and metalloids	Usually unielemental Time consuming Not easy to optimize Problems with background Applicable to metals and metalloids	Risk of spectral interferences Sub‐ppm–ppb DLs (worst than with ICP‐MS) Expensive to run