Detection of explosives in vapor phase by field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometry with dopant-assisted laser ionization

Detection of low-volatile explosives in concentrations below 10−14 g/cm3 is a great challenge for portable ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) and field asymmetric IMS (FAIMS). We study the capabilities of FAIMS detector with ultraviolet laser ionization combined with organic additives (dopants) toluen...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Talanta (Oxford) 2022-08, Vol.245, p.123414-123414, Article 123414
Main Authors: Kostarev, Vitaly A., Kotkovskii, Gennadii E., Chistyakov, Alexander A., Akmalov, Artem E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Dopants
Explosives detection
Field asymmetric ion mobility spectrometer (FAIMS)
Laser ionization
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Detection of low-volatile explosives in concentrations below 10−14 g/cm3 is a great challenge for portable ion mobility spectrometers (IMS) and field asymmetric IMS (FAIMS). We study the capabilities of FAIMS detector with ultraviolet laser ionization combined with organic additives (dopants) toluene and 1-methylnaphtalene to sense nitro-explosives: trinitrotoluene (TNT) and low-volatile cyclonite (RDX) and nitropentaerythritol (PETN). Differential mobility coefficients were measured for target ion peaks of TNT, RDX and PETN. Presence of dopants in the sample results in multiple growth of ion yield at laser intensities lower than 2 × 107 W/cm2. Limits of detection with dopant-assisted laser ionization were determined: 4.7 × 10−16 g/cm3 for RDX and 9.8 × 10−15 g/cm3 for PETN. Obtained results propose a way to further improve sensitivity of detectors along with improvement of portability of current laser-based FAIMS prototypes by using less powerful and smaller lasers. [Display omitted] •Dopants can stimulate laser ionization of nitro-based explosives.•Dopants decrease required laser intensity and allow usage of less powerful lasers.•Limit of detection below 100 particles per quadrillion was achieved for cyclonite.•Proposed ionization method can be applied for real-time off-laboratory monitoring.
ISSN:0039-9140
1873-3573
DOI:10.1016/j.talanta.2022.123414