Interfacing Atmospheric Flow Tube to Ion Mobility Spectrometry: FY 2021 Final Report

Technical Report · Wed Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/1989187· OSTI ID:1989187

Ewing, Robert G. ^[1]; Denis, Elizabeth H. ^[1]; Nims, Megan K. ^[1]; Hart, Garret L. ^[1]; Avalos, Nancy M. ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)

An atmospheric flow tube (AFT) provides extended ion-molecule reaction times of 2-3 seconds compared to milliseconds in typical mass spectrometers. This results in several orders of magnitude enhanced sensitivity allowing for vapor detection at the parts-per-quadrillion levels when an AFT is coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS). The goal of this project was to demonstrate the feasibility of integrating an AFT ionization source to a more portable ion mobility spectrometer (IMS). This project was successful in integrating AFT to IMS, as shown in Figure ES.1. The PNNL team demonstrated measurable ion signal from an AFT-IMS with a Faraday plate detector. Reasonable ion signals were detectable at low flow rates approaching 1 m/s. This is close to the flow rates used with the AFT-MS, which has demonstrated parts-per-quadrillion vapor detection. Vapor detection enables non-contact detection of a variety of illicit substances for various applications including cargo screening, mail sorting facilities, and checkpoints. With further improvements to enhance detection, AFT-IMS has the potential to allow ultra-trace vapor detection in a more portable device.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Laboratory Directed Research and Development (LDRD) Program
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1989187
• Report Number(s): PNNL--32466
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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