skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Method for enhancing the resolving power of ion mobility separations over a limited mobility range

Patent ·
OSTI ID:1159843

A method for raising the resolving power, specificity, and peak capacity of conventional ion mobility spectrometry is disclosed. Ions are separated in a dynamic electric field comprising an oscillatory field wave and opposing static field, or at least two counter propagating waves with different parameters (amplitude, profile, frequency, or speed). As the functional dependencies of mean drift velocity on the ion mobility in a wave and static field or in unequal waves differ, only single species is equilibrated while others drift in either direction and are mobility-separated. An ion mobility spectrum over a limited range is then acquired by measuring ion drift times through a fixed distance inside the gas-filled enclosure. The resolving power in the vicinity of equilibrium mobility substantially exceeds that for known traveling-wave or drift-tube IMS separations, with spectra over wider ranges obtainable by stitching multiple segments. The approach also enables low-cutoff, high-cutoff, and bandpass ion mobility filters.

Research Organization:
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC05-76RLO1830
Assignee:
Battelle Memorial Institute (Richland, WA)
Patent Number(s):
8,841,608
Application Number:
13/861,511
OSTI ID:
1159843
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (6)

Mass spectrometer patent July 2005
Method and apparatus for high-order differential mobility separations patent November 2008
Method and apparatus for ion mobility spectrometry with alignment of dipole direction (IMS-ADD) patent-application October 2006
Platform for Field Asymmetric Waveform Ion Mobility Spectrometry with Ion Propulsion Modes Employing Gas Flow and Electric Field patent-application August 2010
Charge Capacity Limitations of Radio Frequency Ion Guides in Their Use for Improved Ion Accumulation and Trapping in Mass Spectrometry journal March 2000
Fundamentals of Traveling Wave Ion Mobility Spectrometry journal December 2008