Quantitative information in decay curves obtained with a pulsed ion mobility spectrometer

Abstract

Ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) is well known for its very high sensitivity, and thus IMS spectra are commonly used in the identification of trace gases. Extracting quantitative information from IMS spectra is, in contrast, difficult, especially regarding the reproducibility due to the nature of the processes involved in the measurement of the spectra. Here we present data extracted from signal decay curves obtained with a pulsed IMS, which can support the determination of substance concentrations in the lower ppb range with good stability.

Review on Ion Mobility Spectrometry. Part 1: current instrumentation

“…IMS can be used for kinetic study of both negative and positive charged ions. Moreover, an electron gun used as an ionization method (called pulsed IMS) has been used to study the decay curves of DMMP and TDI 86 .…”

“…Moreover, an ionization method involving the use of an electron gun (called pulsed IMS) has been used to study the decay curves of DMMP and TDI. 87 Once ionized, ions are directed to the drift or separation region, also called the drift tube, which is the core component of an IMS. To increase the resolution of the devices, recently an intermediate region in between the ionization and separation region has been developed by some groups.…”

Pulsed electron beams in ion mobility spectrometry

“…All of these approaches, however, depend on the quality of data that they are supplied or trained with. Because the decay curves are quite stable with respect to external parameters, and because their decay characteristic depends on the analyte concentration, a study was conducted to determine the details of this dependence on the analyte concentration (Baether et al 2012b ). Besides DMMP and TDI, two more substances were investigated, ethanol and ethyl methyl ketone.…”