Extraction Chromatograph Separation Spark Source Mass Spectrometric Analysis of 14 Rare Earth Impurities in High Purity Rare Earth Oxide

An extraction chromatographic method of separating rare earth impurities from high purity $Nd_2O_3$, $Sm_2O_3$, $Gd_2O_3$, $Er_2O_3$, $Dy_2O_3$ and $Yb_2O_3$ was studied by using $HCl-NH_4Cl$ as moving phase and P507 as stationary phase. After the impurities were enriched from the eluate by chelant-activated carbon, the active carbon was ashed and the ignited residue was used to prepare the sample electrode for spark source mass spectrometric determination. The impurities in 99.9999% rare earth oxide can be determined by the proposed method with recovery over 80%.