Inductively Coupled Plasma-Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP-AES) is a versatile and accurate analytical technique used for determining the content of several chemical elements in water samples or in solutions derived from mineralisation of solid matrices. This technique is based on the excitation of the sample by the energy supplied by the high temperatures of the plasma (up to 10000 K). The instrument measures, for each element, the optical radiation emitted by the atoms during the return to their ground state. The detection limits achievable with this technique are in the range of μg/L, with a stable and highly reproducible signal.
