A novel combined ion source based on a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) lamp with both single photon ionization (SPI) and chemical ionization (CI) capabilities has been developed for an orthogonal acceleration time-of-flight mass spectrometer (oaTOFMS). The SPI was accomplished using a commercial 10.6 eV krypton discharge lamp with a photon flux of about 10(11) photons s(-1), while the CI was achieved through ion-molecule reactions with O(2)(+) reactant ions generated by photoelectron ionization at medium vacuum pressure (MVP). To achieve high ionization efficiency, the ion source pressure was elevated to 0.3 mbar and the photoionization length was extended to 36 mm. As a result, limits of detection (LODs) down to 3, 4, and 6 ppbv were obtained for benzene, toluene, and p-xylene in MVP-SPI mode, and values of 8 and 10 ppbv were obtained for toluene and chloroform, respectively, in SPI-CI mode. As it is feasible to switch between MVP-SPI mode and SPI-CI mode rapidly, this system is capable of monitoring complex organic mixtures with a wide range of ionization energies (IEs). The analytical capacity of this system was demonstrated by measuring dehydrogenation products of long-chain paraffins to olefins through direct capillary sampling and drinking water disinfection byproducts from chlorine through a membrane interface.

Photon ionization mass spectrometry (PI-MS) is a widely used technique for the online detection of trace substances in complex matrices. In this work, a new high-pressure photon ionization (HPPI) ion source based on a vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) Kr lamp was developed for time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOFMS). The detection sensitivity was improved by elevating the ion source pressure to about 700 Pa. A radio frequency (RF)-only quadrupole was employed as the ion guide system following the HPPI source to achieve high ion transmission efficiency. In-source collision induced dissociation (CID) was conducted for accurate chemical identification by varying the voltage between the ion source and the ion guide. The high humidity of the breath air can promote the detection of some compounds with higher ionization potentials (IPs) that could not be well detected by single photon ionization (SPI) at low pressure. Under 100% relative humidity (37 °C), the limits of detection down to 0.015 ppbv (parts per billion by volume) for aliphatic and aromatic hydrocarbons were obtained. This HPPI-TOFMS system was preliminarily applied for online investigations of the exhaled breath from both healthy nonsmoker and smoker subjects, demonstrating its analytical capacity for complicated gases analysis. Subsequently, several frequently reported VOCs in the breath of healthy volunteers, i.e., acetone, isoprene, 2-butanone, ethanol, acetic acid, and isopropanol, were successfully identified and quantified.

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is a key trace detection technique for explosives and the development of a simple, stable, and efficient nonradioactive ionization source is highly demanded. A dopant-assisted negative photoionization (DANP) source has been developed for IMS, which uses a commercial VUV krypton lamp to ionize acetone as the source of electrons to produce negative reactant ions in air. With 20 ppm of acetone as the dopant, a stable current of reactant ions of 1.35 nA was achieved. The reactant ions were identified to be CO 3by atmospheric pressure time-of-flight mass spectrometry, while the reactant ions in 63 Ni source were O 2. Finally, its capabilities for detection of common explosives including ammonium nitrate fuel oil (ANFO), 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), N-nitrobis(2-hydroxyethyl)amine dinitrate (DINA), and pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) were evaluated, and the limits of detection of 10 pg (ANFO), 80 pg (TNT), and 100 pg (DINA) with a linear range of 2 orders of magnitude were achieved. The time-of-flight mass spectra obtained with use of DANP source clearly indicated that PETN and DINA can be directly ionized by the ion-association reaction of CO 3 − to form PETN·CO 3 − and DINA·CO 3 − adduct ions, which result in good sensitivity for the DANP source. The excellent stability, good sensitivity, and especially the better separation between the reactant and product ion peaks make the DANP a potential nonradioactive ionization source for IMS.