Single particle ICP-mass spectrometry (spICP-MS) has been used to define the size and number concentration of nanoparticles (NPs). In this study, we have developed a new analytical approach to extend the analytical size range of NPs toward a larger region. To achieve this, the signal intensities of Au related polyatomic ions such as ¹⁹⁷Au¹²C⁺, ¹⁹⁷Au¹⁴N⁺, ¹⁹⁷Au¹⁶O⁺, and ¹⁹⁷Au⁴⁰Ar⁺, instead of ¹⁹⁷Au⁺, were used for the size calibration of Au NPs. With the ¹⁹⁷Au⁴⁰Ar⁺ signal, the signal intensities emanating from the Au NPs can be reduced to the 10⁻⁵ level, and thus, the resulting signal intensity for 400 nm Au NPs was about 1 000 000 cps, which was well within the analytical range. For the size analysis of Au NPs of size 200–400 nm, the intensity of the ¹⁹⁷Au⁴⁰Ar⁺ signal was used, whilst, the ¹⁹⁷Au⁺ signal was used for the size calibration for Au NPs of size 10–100 nm. The reliability of the technique can be evaluated from the slope of the regression line defined by NPs of three sizes (200, 300, and 400 nm). The wider analytical range achieved here (i.e., 10–400 nm) shows that this technique can be applied for the size analysis of NPs present in nature.

中文翻译：

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使用单粒子ICP-质谱分析大型金纳米粒子的尺寸

单粒子ICP-质谱（spICP-MS）已用于定义纳米粒子（NPs）的大小和数量浓度。在这项研究中，我们开发了一种新的分析方法，可以将NP的分析尺寸范围扩展到更大的区域。为此，使用与Au有关的多原子离子的信号强度代替¹⁹⁷ Au ⁺，例如¹⁹⁷ Au ¹² C ⁺，¹⁹⁷ Au ¹⁴ N ⁺，¹⁹⁷ Au ¹⁶ O ⁺和¹⁹⁷ Au ⁴⁰ Ar ⁺。校准金纳米颗粒。与¹⁹⁷Au ⁴⁰ Ar ⁺信号，可以将Au NPs发出的信号强度降低到10 ^-5级，因此，对于400 nm Au NPs所得的信号强度约为1000000 cps，这在分析范围内是很好的。对于大小为200–400 nm的Au NP的大小分析，使用了¹⁹⁷ Au ⁴⁰ Ar ⁺信号的强度，而将¹⁹⁷ Au ⁺信号用于大小为10–100 nm的Au NP的大小校准。可以从由三种尺寸（200、300和400 nm）的NP定义的回归线的斜率评估该技术的可靠性。此处获得的更宽的分析范围（即，10–400 nm）表明该技术可用于自然界中NP的大小分析。