Acetone -Enhanced Negative Vacuum Ultraviolet Photoionization Mass Spectrometry for Rapid Detection of Explosives

• Published in: Fēnxī huàxué Vol. 42; no. 7; pp. 1017 - 1021
• Main Authors: DOU, Jian, HUA, Lei, HOU, Ke-Yong, JIANG, Lei, CHENG, Sha-Sha, QI, Guo-Chen, LI, Qing-Yun, TIAN, Di, LI, Hai-Yang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Chinese; English
• Published: 01.07.2014
• Subjects: Acetone; Explosives; Ionization; Mass spectrometry; Photoionization; Photons; TNT; Ultraviolet
• ISSN: 0253-3820
• DOI: 10.11895/j.issn.0253-3820.140042

In this article, an acetone-enhanced negative photoionization (AENP) source based on a 10.6 eV vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) lamp was developed and coupled to a home-made time-of-flight mass spectrometer for rapid detection of trace explosives. In the AENP source, acetone molecules absorbed 10.6 eV photons and were ionized by single photon ionization to emit photoelectrons. The photoelectrons reacted with O sub(2), CO sub(2), etc. in the atmosphere to produce mainly CO super(-) sub(3) negative reactant ions. With this ionization source, common explosives, N-nitrobiz (2-hyolorolroxy ethyl)-amine dinitrate (DINA), Tetryl, trinitrotoluene (TNT) and hexahydro-1 ,3 , 5-trinitro-1 ,3 ,5-triazine (RDX), could be detected sensitively, and the limit of detection of 2 pg (TNT) with a linear range of 3 orders of magnitude was achieved. The simple structure, high sensitivity characteristics make the AENP source as a promising ionization source for mass spectrometry.