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Chemosensors
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Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition
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Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition

A special issue of Chemosensors (ISSN 2227-9040). This special issue belongs to the section "Analytical Methods, Instrumentation and Miniaturization".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 20 January 2026 | Viewed by 11087

Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Zhe Wang

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Energy and Power Engineering, Tsinghua University, Beijing 10084, China
Interests: LIBS; quantitative analysis
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

I am delighted to organize a Special Issue in the Chemosensors journal, titled “Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition”. The main purpose of this SI is to report on the recent progress made in the application of LIBS in different fields to provide a clearer picture on how this technology should be developed in the future and to show its importance people who are interested in elementary chemical analysis.

Our previous SI, “Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy”, has been successfully published 12 papers. We hope that more scholars will take note of the second edition of this Special issue and contribute their valuable research. Any interesting applications with unique facility design, quantification methods, an understanding of improvement, and successful demonstration are welcome.

Prof. Dr. Zhe Wang
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Chemosensors is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • LIBS
  • laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy
  • quantitative analysis
  • qualitative analysis
  • classification
  • application

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Related Special Issue

Published Papers (7 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 4532 KiB  
Article
Research on Enhancement of LIBS Signal Stability Through the Selection of Spectral Lines Based on Plasma Characteristic Parameters
by Yunfeng Xia, Honglin Jian, Qishuai Liang and Xilin Wang
Chemosensors 2025, 13(2), 42; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors13020042 - 1 Feb 2025
Viewed by 740
Abstract
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is widely used for online quantitative analysis in industries due to its rapid analysis and minimal damage. However, challenges like signal instability, matrix effects, and self-absorption hinder the measurement accuracy. Recent approaches, including the internal standard method and crater [...] Read more.
Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is widely used for online quantitative analysis in industries due to its rapid analysis and minimal damage. However, challenges like signal instability, matrix effects, and self-absorption hinder the measurement accuracy. Recent approaches, including the internal standard method and crater limitation method, aim to improve the stability but suffer from high computational demands or complexity. This study proposes a method to enhance LIBS stability by utilizing craters formed from laser ablation without external cavity assistance. It first improves the plasma temperature calculation reliability using multiple elemental spectral lines, after which electron density calculations are performed. By fitting plasma parameter curves based on laser pulse counts and using a laser confocal microscope for crater analysis, stable plasma conditions were found within crater areas of 0.400 mm2 to 0.443 mm2 and depths of 0.357 mm to 0.412 mm. Testing with elemental spectral lines of Ti II, K II, Ca I, and Fe I showed a significant reduction in the relative standard deviation (RSD) of the LIBS spectral line intensity, demonstrating an improved signal stability within specified crater dimensions. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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14 pages, 5093 KiB  
Article
In Situ Classification of Original Rocks by Portable Multi-Directional Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Device
by Mengyang Zhang, Hongbo Fu, Huadong Wang, Feifan Shi, Saifullah Jamali, Zongling Ding, Bian Wu and Zhirong Zhang
Chemosensors 2025, 13(1), 18; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors13010018 - 15 Jan 2025
Viewed by 818
Abstract
In situ rapid classification of rock lithology is crucial in various fields, including geological exploration and petroleum logging. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is particularly well-suited for in situ online analysis due to its rapid response time and minimal sample preparation requirements. To facilitate [...] Read more.
In situ rapid classification of rock lithology is crucial in various fields, including geological exploration and petroleum logging. Laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) is particularly well-suited for in situ online analysis due to its rapid response time and minimal sample preparation requirements. To facilitate in situ raw rock discrimination analysis, a portable LIBS device was developed specifically for outdoor use. This device built upon a previous multi-directional optimization scheme and integrated machine learning to classify seven types of original rock samples: mudstone, basalt, dolomite, sandstone, conglomerate, gypsolyte, and shale from oil logging sites. Initially, spectral data were collected from random areas of each rock sample, and a series of pre-processing steps and data dimensionality reduction were performed to enhance the accuracy and efficiency of the LIBS device. Subsequently, four classification algorithms—linear discriminant analysis (LDA), K-nearest neighbor (KNN), support vector machine (SVM), and extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost)—were employed for classification discrimination. The results were evaluated using a confusion matrix. The final average classification accuracies achieved were 95.71%, 93.57%, 92.14%, and 98.57%, respectively. This work not only demonstrates the effectiveness of the portable LIBS device in classifying various original rock types, but it also highlights the potential of the XGBoost algorithm in improving LIBS analytical performance in field scenarios and geological applications, such as oil logging sites. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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11 pages, 11548 KiB  
Article
On-Site Detection of Ca and Mg in Surface Water Using Portable Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
by Yuanxin Wan, Shixiang Ma, Peichao Zheng, Xiande Zhao, Zhen Xing, Leizi Jiao, Hongwu Tian and Daming Dong
Chemosensors 2025, 13(1), 16; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors13010016 - 14 Jan 2025
Viewed by 816
Abstract
Ca and Mg are key constituents in surface water that are essential nutrients and vital indicators of water hardness. Rapid on-site measurement of Ca and Mg concentrations in surface water is important. However, traditional laboratory detection methods are complex and time-consuming, and on-site [...] Read more.
Ca and Mg are key constituents in surface water that are essential nutrients and vital indicators of water hardness. Rapid on-site measurement of Ca and Mg concentrations in surface water is important. However, traditional laboratory detection methods are complex and time-consuming, and on-site detection is difficult. In this study, a portable surface water detection method was developed using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy with a miniaturized spectrometer LIBS and a liquid jet device for sample introduction. The device enables the rapid online in situ measurement of elemental concentrations in the water. The limits of detection for the rapid on-site detection of Ca and Mg in surface water were 11.58 and 2.57 mg/L, respectively. We applied this method to assess the concentrations of Ca and Mg in authentic water samples collected from rivers and ponds. The recovery rates for Ca and Mg were 90.83–101.74% and 93.43–108.74%, respectively. This method is suitable for rapid, on-site, and highly sensitive monitoring of Ca and Mg concentrations in the environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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13 pages, 3624 KiB  
Article
Improvement of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy Quantitative Performance Using Minimizing Signal Uncertainty as Signal Optimization Target: Taking the Ambient Pressure as an Example
by Kaifan Zhang, Jianxun Ji, Zhitan Liu, Zongyu Hou and Zhe Wang
Chemosensors 2024, 12(12), 277; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors12120277 - 21 Dec 2024
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 941
Abstract
Quantitative analysis performance is considered the Achilles’ heel of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Improving the raw spectral signal is fundamental to achieving accurate quantification. Signal-to-noise ratio enhancement and uncertainty reduction are two targets to improve the raw spectral signal. Most LIBS studies choose the [...] Read more.
Quantitative analysis performance is considered the Achilles’ heel of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. Improving the raw spectral signal is fundamental to achieving accurate quantification. Signal-to-noise ratio enhancement and uncertainty reduction are two targets to improve the raw spectral signal. Most LIBS studies choose the maximum signal-to-noise ratio as the target to optimize the signal. However, there are no precise conclusions about how to optimize signal until now. It has been insisted by our group that the lowest signal uncertainty should be the optimization criterion, which is verified in this article. This study performed quantitative analysis on brass samples at three typical pressures: atmospheric pressure (100 kPa), pressure corresponding to the maximal signal-to-noise ratio (60 kPa), and pressure corresponding to the lowest signal uncertainty (5 kPa) under the optimal spatiotemporal window at each pressure based on a previous study. The results indicate that a pressure of 60 kPa led to a decrease in the accuracy and an increase in the precision of the quantitative analysis; the pressure of 5 kPa led to the highest accuracy and the best precision of the quantitative analysis. Reasons for changes in quantitative analysis are analyzed in detail through matrix effects and signal uncertainty. Therefore, selecting the pressure that corresponds to the lowest signal uncertainty can better improve the LIBS quantitative analysis performance. Signal uncertainty reduction is recommended as a more important direction for the LIBS community. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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Graphical abstract

15 pages, 2655 KiB  
Article
Correlation of Plasma Temperature in Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy with the Hydrophobic Properties of Silicone Rubber Insulators
by Olga Kokkinaki, Panagiotis Siozos, Nikolaos Mavrikakis, Kiriakos Siderakis, Kyriakos Mouratis, Emmanuel Koudoumas, Ioannis Liontos, Kostas Hatzigiannakis and Demetrios Anglos
Chemosensors 2024, 12(10), 204; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors12100204 - 3 Oct 2024
Viewed by 1413
Abstract
In this study, we have investigated the relationship between the plasma temperature in remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) experiments and the hydrophobic properties of silicone rubber insulators (SIRs). Contact angle and LIBS measurements were conducted on both artificially-aged (accelerated aging) and field-aged SIRs. [...] Read more.
In this study, we have investigated the relationship between the plasma temperature in remote laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) experiments and the hydrophobic properties of silicone rubber insulators (SIRs). Contact angle and LIBS measurements were conducted on both artificially-aged (accelerated aging) and field-aged SIRs. This study reveals a clear connection between plasma temperature and the properties of aged SIRs on artificially-aged SIR specimens. Specifically, the plasma temperature exhibits a consistent increase with the duration of the accelerated aging test. The hydrophobicity of the artificially-aged SIRs was assessed by performing contact angle measurements, revealing a decrease in the hydrophobicity with increased aging test duration. Furthermore, we extended our investigation to the study of nine field-aged SIRs that had been in use on 150 kV overhead transmission lines for 0 to 21 years. We find that the laser absorption and hardness of the material do not relate to the plasma temperature. In summary, we observe a direct connection of plasma temperature to both contact-angle measurements and operation time of the in-service insulators. These results strongly suggest the potential use of LIBS for remotely evaluating the hydrophobicity and aging degree of silicone rubber insulators, thus assessing their real-time on-site operational quality. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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11 pages, 3367 KiB  
Article
Exploring Spectral Uncertainty on the Surface of Brass Samples by Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
by Wei Wang, Lanxiang Sun and Faquan Li
Chemosensors 2024, 12(3), 49; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors12030049 - 19 Mar 2024
Viewed by 1767
Abstract
The shot-to-shot measurement uncertainty restricts the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technically, to a certain extent. In order to further deepen the understanding of spectral stability, in this paper, the effects of the laser’s focus depth, the delay of the spectrometer, and [...] Read more.
The shot-to-shot measurement uncertainty restricts the application of laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) technically, to a certain extent. In order to further deepen the understanding of spectral stability, in this paper, the effects of the laser’s focus depth, the delay of the spectrometer, and the position of the spectrum collection on the spectral stability were carefully researched. Moreover, the dynamic characteristics of plasma were studied at different laser focusing depths. Research has found that the morphological changes of plasma are relatively stable, without significant changes, despite varying depths of laser focus on the sample surface. In addition, it was found that stable elemental emission spectra can always be obtained in the early plasma aggregation region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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11 pages, 2863 KiB  
Article
Detection of Cadmium and Lead Heavy Metals in Soil Samples by Portable Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy
by Mingjun Ma, Li Fang, Nanjing Zhao and Xiaomin Ma
Chemosensors 2024, 12(3), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/chemosensors12030040 - 4 Mar 2024
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3291
Abstract
Heavy metal pollution in soil is becoming more and more serious. LIBS is one of the most promising technologies for rapid detection of heavy metal contamination in soil. However, due to the wide variety of soils and complex matrices, accurate quantification remains a [...] Read more.
Heavy metal pollution in soil is becoming more and more serious. LIBS is one of the most promising technologies for rapid detection of heavy metal contamination in soil. However, due to the wide variety of soils and complex matrices, accurate quantification remains a challenge. In total, 451 soil samples were prepared and detected by the portable detector of LIBS, which were divided into six categories based on the compactness of the soil pellets, and a separate quantitative model for each type of soil sample was used for quantitative analysis by external standard method. It did not need a lot of data to train the model, and only a small number of calibration samples could be used for quantitative analysis of a large number of samples. The results showed that 78 standard samples and 334 collected samples were quantitatively analyzed by 39 standard samples. Compared with the standard value, the correlation coefficients were all above 0.95. A comparative experiment indicated that the portable LIBS system combined with soil classification and calibration methods can achieve fast and accurate quantitative detection. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Application of Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy, 2nd Edition)
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