Active sampling system for gas-phase analyzers

Eur J Mass Spectrom (Chichester). 2017 Aug;23(4):130-135. doi: 10.1177/1469066717716919. Epub 2017 Jun 28.

Abstract

The approaches for increasing a contact-free sampling distance up to 40 cm for a field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometer were investigated and implemented by use both the vortex flow made by a rotating impeller and the laser desorption of traces of low volatile explosives. The sampling device for a laser-based field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometer including a high-speed rotating impeller was designed and built with help of computer simulation of vortex and analytical flows. The dependence of a signal of trinitrotoluene vapors on a rotational speed of an impeller was obtained. The optimization of analytical flow was performed. The effective sampling distance is increased up to 28 cm for trinitrotoulene vapors detection by a field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometer equipped with a rotating impeller. The distance can be increased up to 40 cm using laser irradiation of objects with traces of explosives. It was shown that under ambient conditions the efficient desorption of low-volatile explosives is achieved at laser intensity 107 W/cm2, wavelength λ = 266 nm, pulse energy about 1 mJ and pulse frequency not less than 10 Hz.

Keywords: Ion mobility; analytical; desorption; detection; explosives; field asymmetric ion mobility; flow; spectrometer; traces; vapors; vortex.