Determination of Lead in Jamu by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Kiflan Adli Kapitan (a), Mangasi Alion Marpaung (a*), Indra Karnadi (b)
a) Universitas Negeri Jakarta, Indonesia
*mangasi[at]unj.ac.id
b) Maju Makmur Mandiri Research Center, Indonesia
Abstract
Jamu is Indonesian traditional herbal medicine that is still consumed nowadays to treat a variety of medical conditions. Jamu contaminated with toxic heavy metals such as lead, which has been a common environmental pollutant, can cause various health issues even in trace concentrations. In this study, a technique for the determination of lead contents in jamu utilizing laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) was evaluated. A Q-switched Nd:YAG laser at a wavelength of 355 nm, with a pulse duration of 8 ns, and maximum pulse energy of 15 mJ, was used for plasma generation on the sample surface under atmospheric pressure. The lead spectral intensity in plasma emission spectra was correlated with the lead concentration using a linear regression model. The actual concentrations and projected values produced by the model showed good agreement with the R^{2} of the model was 0.998. The detection limit obtained from the model was 99.38 ppm. These results indicated that laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy could be a fast and accurate way to identify heavy metals in Indonesian traditional medicine.
