2D-O1-1050 PDF
Fundamental Techniques for Ion Mobility-Mass Spectrometry of Nanoparticles
Ion mobility-mass spectrometry (IM-MS) is one of the important method to obtain information about charges and structures of large-sized gaseous ions of molecules, clusters or nanoparticles. This method is widely used not only for pure analytical studies but also for applications such as detecting toxic or explosive gas. We have been studying the structures and isomer separations of atomic clusters or nanoparticles by IM-MS, using home-built ion drift cell and reflectron time-of-flight (TOF) mass spectrometer. We report here on the following important examples of fundamental techniques in obtaining two-dimensional spectrum of TOF (mass) vs. arrival time (cross section) by IM-MS: (1) overall vacuum chambers, (2) temperature-controlled ion drift cell, and (3) sequential TOF mass spectra measurements. These techniques are not limited for the study of nanoparticles, and they probably help for other applications.