Some Difficulties and Status in the Application of X-Ray Spectrometry in Geological Analysis: A Review

X-ray fluorescence spectrometry (XRF) has become one of the widely used methods for main and trace elements analysis in geological samples, due to its characteristics of non-destructive, fast, environmentally-friendly and high analytical precision. Currently, XRF can qualitatively and quantitatively analyze most of the major and trace elements (4Be−92U, especially 10Na−92U) with the concentration ranges from μg/g to percent. However, there are still some difficulties in practical analysis of geological samples with XRF due to the complexity and diversity of mineral composition, physical structural characteristics (e.g. size, shape, delamination and inclusions) and chemical composition (e.g. elemental composition, chemical morphology) of geological samples. This paper elaborates difficulties and corresponding possible solutions of XRF analysis in geological samples from five aspects including small size samples or precious samples analysis, the application of scattering effect, the analysis of volatile elements, variable valence elements and rare metals. Finally, the limitations and challenges of the XRF technique that still exist in the geological analysis are presented. The BRIEF REPORT is available for this paper at http://www.ykcs.ac.cn/en/article/doi/10.15898/j.ykcs.202403150052.