Measuring Lanthanide Concentrations in Molten Salt Using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy (LIBS)

Abstract

The versatility of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) as an analytical method for high-temperature applications was demonstrated through measurement of the concentrations of the lanthanide elements europium (Eu) and praseodymium (Pr) in molten eutectic lithium chloride–potassium chloride (LiCl-KCl) salts at a temperature of 500 °C. Laser pulses (1064 nm, 7 ns, 120 mJ/pulse) were focused on the top surface of the molten salt samples in a laboratory furnace under an argon atmosphere, and the resulting LIBS signals were collected using a broadband Echelle-type spectrometer. Partial least squares (PLS) regression using leave-one-sample-out cross-validation was used to quantify the concentrations of Eu and Pr in the samples. The root mean square error of prediction (RMSEP) for Eu was 0.13% (absolute) over a concentration range of 0–3.01%, and for Pr was 0.13% (absolute) over a concentration range of 0–1.04%.

Keywords

Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy LIBS Lanthanides Lithium potassium chloride salt Molten salt Europium Praseodymium

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