Quality Assurance of Neutron Activation Analysis for the Determination of Atmospheric Particulate Matter Elements

The instrumental neutron activation analysis has advantages including high sensitivity, no need for sample pretreatment, and a wide variety of measurable elements. It is one of the common methods for analyzing the element content of atmospheric particulate matter and can provide an important data basis for the analysis of pollution sources. This article summarizes the quality assurance process of each experimental process in the NAA laboratory using the relative comparison method and the single comparator k₀ method to analyze atmospheric particulate matter samples, as well as internal and external quality control methods.