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In this episode, the team recaps a busy season of spring seminars across the country in partnership with CEM, Agilent, and other ICP Alley collaborators. From Santa Clara to Baton Rouge, our chemists share what they presented, what they learned, and the real-world questions they answered — from mercury washout and silicon rinsing to internal standard selection and leaching practices.

They also reflect on what made these events so valuable: industry collaboration, hands-on instrument demos, and face-to-face connections with fellow chemists. Whether you attended or missed the tour, this episode gives you a behind-the-scenes look at how these seminars are helping labs tackle trace analysis challenges with more confidence.

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In this episode, we explore the challenges of working with rhodium, one of the rarest and most expensive elements used in analytical testing. From metal and oxide digestions to stability tips for nitric and hydrochloric matrices, our team shares methods to help you get this stubborn element into solution. We also cover ICP-OES and ICP-MS testing considerations, including line selection, common interferences, and why rhodium is a popular choice as an internal standard. Whether you're preparing standards or troubleshooting rare element analysis, this episode offers practical advice to improve your results.

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Our experts tackle three customer questions straight from the tech support inbox. We start by explaining why glass isn’t a good choice for storing or diluting lithium hydroxide and offer tips on selecting the best materials to avoid contamination. Next, we clarify how measurement uncertainty and RSDs relate to the limit of quantification, helping you understand what your data is really telling you at trace levels. Finally, we review our CCS and CMS stock standard series, including why they’re split the way they are and what to watch for when combining them in custom mixes.

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To kick off season 6, we continue our sample prep series with a focus on cobalt. Our team discusses digestion methods for cobalt metals, alloys, oxides, and ores, including when to use nitric acid, hydrochloric acid, or fusion techniques. We also cover testing considerations for ICP-OES and ICP-MS, including cobalt’s sensitivity, common interferences, and its role as an internal standard in oil and coolant analysis. Plus, hear tips for handling cobalt in pharmaceutical testing and learn about the resources available on our website to support your method development.

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In this episode, we sit down with Bench Boost listener and instructional designer Alexa Jackson to talk about career growth, chemistry communication, and her journey from academia to the battery industry. Alexa shares valuable advice for early-career chemists, including tips for writing lab notebooks your future self will thank you for, building scientific intuition, and embracing continuous learning.

She also gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her latest work with Pestana Solutions and the launch of Nanoverse Battery Courses, a resource designed to make battery science more accessible and engaging for STEM professionals.

Looking to continue the conversation? Connect with Alexa on LinkedIn to follow her work in chemistry education and the battery industry.

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In this solo episode, Mike dives into titrations — a method that's still essential across industries like environmental testing, manufacturing, and even winemaking. Learn tips for improving accuracy, from proper burette qualification and indicator usage to endpoint detection techniques like quick drops vs. full drops. Mike also shares common troubleshooting advice for colorblindness in titrations, sliding endpoints, and working with high-concentration samples.

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This episode takes a fun detour into the world of chemistry conspiracy theories! Mike Booth explores the science behind chemtrails vs. contrails and explains how you could actually test for elements like aluminum, barium, lead, and lithium in air samples using ICP-OES and ICP-MS. Learn practical tips for sample collection, how to avoid common interferences, and why trace analysis requires extra care with contamination control.

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In this episode, we tackle unexpected high recoveries, caused by internal standard signal timing during ICP analysis. Then we unpack a challenging multi-element blend, involving silver, tungsten, sulfur, rare earths, and more — plus how acid choices and order of addition impact stability. Finally, we dig into a sample prep puzzle for chloride analysis in iron phosphate, offering digestion strategies, matrix compatibility tips, and insights from Dr. Paul Gaines.

These real-world cases are packed with lessons to improve your prep, analysis, and problem-solving in the lab.