The Precise Determination of Cd Isotope Ratio in Geological Samples by MC-ICP-MS with Ion Exchange Separation

Cadmium (Cd) is a trace element which occurs at μg g-1 level abundances in the crust. Cd isotopes have great prospects in the study of the cosmogony, the trace of anthropogenic sources, the micronutrient cycling and the ocean productivity. This study develops an optimized technique for the precise and accurate determination of Cd isotopic compositions. Cd was separated from the matrix by elution with AG-MP-1 anionic exchange chromatographic resin. The matrix elements (K, Na, Ca, Al, Fe, and Mg etc.), polyatomic interfered elements (Ge, Ga, Zr, Nb, Ru, and Mo), and isobaric interfered elements (In, Pd and most of Sn) were eluted using HCl with gradient descent concentrations (2, 0.3, 0.06, 0.012 and 0.0012 mol L-1). The same elution procedure was repeated to eliminate the residuel Sn (Sn/Cd < 0.018). The collected Cd was analyzed using MC-ICP-MS, in which the instrumental mass fractionation was controlled by a "sample-standard bracketing" technique. The recovery of Cd larger than 96.85%, and the δ114/110Cd are in the range of -1.43~+0.20‰ for ten geological reference materials (GSD-3a, GSD-5a, GSD-7a, GSD-6, GSD-9, GSD-10, GSD-11, GSD-12, GSD-23, and GSS-1). The δ114/110Cd obtained for GSS-1 soil sample relative to the NIST SRM 3108 Cd solution was 0.20, which was coherent with the literature values (0.08±0.23). This method had a precision of 0.001~0.002% (RSD), an error range of 0.06~0.14 (δ114/110Cd, 2σ), and a long-term reproducibility of 0.12 (δ114/110Cd, 2σ).