What is an ICP?
An ICP is an Inductively Coupled Plasma by using high temperature argon to analyze element concentrations in liquid solutions. The College's ICP is an Optical Emission System (OES) and uses the light emission from the high temperature excitation of the atoms to determine their concentration. Applications include plant elemental analysis, soil extracts, silicon chip analysis, nanoparticles, rock fusions to name just a few. Here is a list of usable elements with detection limits.
Location
Rausser College of Natural Resources
123 Hilgard Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720-3110
Instrument
Perkin Elmer 5300 DV optical emission ICP with auto sampler. The ICP has a standard nebulizer system. For certain applications a flow injection system with hydride generation ability, and an ultrasonic nebulizer for enhanced detection limits are available. The instrument instructions can be downloaded here.
Capability and Throughput: The ICP can measure up to at least 21 different elements simultaneously. Users should estimate between 6 and 12 samples per hour plus a half hour warm up of the instrument.
Recharge rate
UC users: users who are affiliated with University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
New users will be charged at $122 per hour with a 2-hour minimum which includes initial training and guidance for using the ICP instrument. Other users will be charged at $102 per hour.
New users must submit the ICP-OES Recharge Authorization Form (RAF) to ICP Facility Manager Wenbo Yang via email first.
Non-UC users: users who are not affiliated with University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab
New users will be charged at $197 per hour with a 2-hour minimum which includes initial training and guidance for using the ICP instrument. Other users will be charged at $160 per hour. This non-UC rate also includes the current indirect cost and administrative fee assessments.
In order to use the facility, a service agreement must be completed. New users must contact ICP Facility Manager Wenbo Yang to begin the process.
Availability & Use
The ICP is available for use by all faculty, graduate students, postdocs, researchers and staff within the University of California system and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
Contact Dr. Wenbo Yang for a half-hour meeting to discuss your ICP application. If your application is feasible with the facility's instrument then the user and Wenbo will reserve a day on the ICP for initial training and method development. The users are required to read the user's guide. The user will need to bring in their samples, standards and blanks they have made up from their own lab, and be trained and develop their method of analysis.
UC users: users who are affiliated with University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab can reserve a time slot for using the ICP facility through ZOHO for any time in the future.
Non-UC users: users who are not affiliated with University of California and Lawrence Berkeley National Lab are welcome to reserve usage through ZOHO, but only for one week in advance.
For safety reasons, users must complete the online "EHS101 - Fundamentals of Lab Safety Training" offered by EH&S as well as several other trainings. More safety can be found on the online CHP component. Users may only access the ICP Facility during normal building hours of Hilgard Hall:
Monday - Friday, 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Contact Information
Dr. Wenbo Yang, facility manager
E-mail: wenbo@berkeley.edu
Phone: (510) 643-1748
Prof. Celine Pallud, Facility Director
E-mail: cpallud@berkeley.edu
Phone: (510) 642-6359