Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry Techniques

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) combines a high-temperature argon plasma source with mass spectrometric detection to achieve rapid, multi-element analysis across trace to major concentration ranges. Samples introduced as aerosols are atomised and ionised in the plasma, and the resulting ions are separated by mass-to-charge ratio in a mass analyser. Modern platforms employ collision and reaction cells, tandem quadrupoles and time-of-flight detectors to mitigate spectral interferences and enhance sensitivity. Advances in sample introduction—capillary electrophoresis, chromatography and micro-nebulisation—have extended ICP-MS to speciation studies, isotope ratio measurements and absolute quantification via isotope dilution. The technique underpins applications in environmental monitoring, clinical diagnostics, biochemistry, geochemistry and materials science, offering limits of detection in the parts-per-trillion range, wide linear dynamic ranges and the capacity for high sample throughput.

Research from Nature Portfolio

Recent foundational work has demonstrated the application of ICP-MS to study metal ion transport in intact biological systems. By quantifying potassium and rubidium fluxes in mouse skeletal muscle and human erythrocytes, researchers achieved superior precision and statistical power compared with conventional tracer methods. This approach leverages the sensitivity of single-quadrupole ICP-MS to monitor membrane transporter activity in situ, opening new avenues for probing metal-dependent physiological processes and enabling direct measurements of ion transport rates under varied experimental conditions.

Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry Techniques publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry techniques across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Inductively coupled plasma (ICP): A high-temperature argon plasma used to atomise and ionise sample aerosols for mass spectrometric analysis.

Collision-reaction cell: A cell placed before the mass analyser where reactive or inert gases are introduced to reduce spectral interferences by collision or chemical reaction.

Triple-quadrupole mass spectrometry (ICP-MS/MS): A tandem mass analyser configuration with two quadrupoles separated by a reaction cell, enabling mass-shift and interference removal.

Mass shift: A strategy in which target ions react with a cell gas to form product ions of higher mass, thereby moving analyte signals away from interfering species.

Isotope dilution: An absolute quantification technique where a known quantity of enriched isotope is added to the sample, and the ratio of natural to enriched isotopes is used to calculate analyte concentration.

References

1. Quantification of 68 elements in river water monitoring samples in single-run measurements. Chemosphere (2023).
2. Development of an Online Isotope Dilution CE/ICP–MS Method for the Quantification of Sulfur in Biological Compounds. Analytical Chemistry (2024).
3. Characterisation of gas cell reactions for 70+ elements using N 2 O for ICP tandem mass spectrometry measurements. Journal of Analytical Atomic Spectrometry (2023).
4. Metal ion transport quantified by ICP-MS in intact cells. Scientific Reports (2016).