Semi-Quantitative Analysis of Elemental Selenium

Abstract

A spectrochemical method is given for the semi-quantitative analysis of 24 impurity elements that may appear in elemental selenium. The method is simple, rapid and adequate for the classification of selenium into various purity grades. Synthetic standards are used in place of chemically analyzed standards. A 50 milligram sample, in its “as received” form, is burned directly in the direct current arc. From the standard spectrograms, the line-to-background ratios of the impurity elements are established to obtain analytical working curves. The elements sought, their analytical spectral lines, and their minimum detectable amounts are given in table form.