Alkali halides as positive and negative ion source for ion mobility and mass spectrometry

Filament ion sources have been used in the production of high current of ions for a wide variety of applications. In this work, a new long-life alkali ion source, based on alkali halide salts doped in nano-γ-alumina (Al2O3) is proposed. Depending the polarity, the ion source produces both alkali and halide ions. Alkali and halid ion peaks were observed by ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) in positive and negative modes, respectively. The lifetime of the ion source for different alkali halides was measured to be in the range of 216-960 h. The total ion current emitted from the source was about 2A, while at the collector plate of the IMS it was 12 nA. Finally, the application of the new source in ion mobility spectrometry was demonstrated by observing ion mobility spectra of some compounds ionized via cation attachment reaction.

کلیدواژه ها:

nano-γ-alumina (Al2O3) ، ion source ، ion mobility spectrometry ، alkali ions ، halide ions