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Preparation Methods of μg Carbon Samples for 14C MeasuremenTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 December 2016

Peter Steier Open the ORCID record for Peter Steier [Opens in a new window] ,
Jakob Liebl ,
Walter Kutschera ,
Eva Maria Wild  and
Robin Golser
Peter Steier*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Jakob Liebl
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria PTW-Freiburg, Physikalisch-Technische Werkstätten Dr. Pychlau GmbH, Freiburg, Germany
Walter Kutschera
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Eva Maria Wild
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
Robin Golser
Affiliation:
Faculty of Physics – Isotope Research, University of Vienna, Vienna, Austria
*
*Corresponding author. Email: peter.steier@univie.ac.at.
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Abstract

Systematic investigations and experience from several application projects on small carbon samples over a number of years have resulted in measuring the radiocarbon content of 10 μg C samples with an overall precision of typically 1%. A substantial reduction of the carbon contamination during graphitization was achieved, resulting in 31±30 ng modern and <100 ng 14C-free carbon. Thus, graphitization is no longer the limiting factor because earlier sample preparation steps usually introduce much larger contamination. The method has been extended to a variety of materials and applied to various projects. Realistic conditions for procedure development can only be achieved in the context of applications on true samples; methods developed are the lyophilization of samples in solution, combustion, ultraviolet oxidation, or carbonate hydrolysis with phosphoric acid, which allows to prepare samples for a wide range of applications. Insights gained from systematic investigations and from real applications are presented.

Keywords

microgramsample preparationbackgroundAMSradiocarbon
Type
Chemical Pretreatment Approaches
Information
Radiocarbon , Volume 59 , Special Issue 3: Proceedings of the 22nd International Radiocarbon Conference (Part 2 of 2) , June 2017 , pp. 803 - 814
Copyright
© 2016 by the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona 

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Footnotes

Selected Papers from the 2015 Radiocarbon Conference, Dakar, Senegal, 16–20 November 2015

References

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