The most commonly used instrument for analysis is the GBC Optimass 8000 ICP-TOF-MS. This system is ideal for rapid transient analysis of a large number of elements.
A specialty of this group is sample introduction by electrothermal vaporization. These are generally rebuilt graphite furnace systems for graphite furnace AA. Seen here is a complete system, including the temperatrue control and electronics system, the autosampler, and the actual furnace workhead. This is rebuilt from an old GTA-95 GFAA system.
The use of an autosampler is generally needed due to the very small volume (10 microliters) of liquid that must be precisely injected for most analyses.
Though the electronics required to power the ETV are large, the actual furnace (seen here) is actually quite small.
Protein separations for metallomics projects are performed using this electrophoresis module.
This is the sampling area for the 1064 nm Nd:YAG laser, which is coupled to the ICP-MS. This is used in metallomic studies. It is convenient for compositional analysis of a solid.