Development of an ion mobility spectrometer with a paper spray ionization source

Abstract

Paper spray (PS) ionization is a recently developed ion source that has been used to analyze samples in their native environments at ambient pressure without requiring sample preparation or pre-separation. The design of an ion mobility spectrometer (IMS) coupled with PS ionization can help expand IMS applications to on-site detection of complex liquid samples. We report a paper spray ionization ion mobility spectrometer prototype that consists of a PS source and an ion mobility spectrometer optimized using a numerical simulation. The performance of the design was evaluated by measuring 2, 6-di-tert-butylpyridine (2, 6-DtBP). The mobility spectra of the 2, 6-DtBP exhibited a single-product ion peak with reduced mobility calculated at 1.42 cm(2)∕(V s) and a linear response of 0.1-10 μg∕ml, with an estimated detection limit of 0.05 μg∕ml. The Relative Standard Deviation for 1 μg∕ml was 5.7% over 11 measurements. The highest resolving power (47) was measured for 2, 6-DtBP. Based on these preliminary results, the present PSIMS design is expected to become a tool of choice for the rapid analysis of complex liquid samples.