Design of a Compact Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer for Space Application.

A miniature reflectron time-of-flight mass spectrometer (TOF MS) with orthogonal extraction coupled with electron impact (EI) ionization source can be used to perform in situ gas composition analysis in a planetary environment. However, performances such as the mass resolution, sensitivity, limit of detection, mass range, and mass accuracy are often decreased because of miniaturization. Herein, a compact instrument for space applications has been developed, and its performance has been evaluated. The mass of the TOF MS is 13.4 kg, with dimensions of 300 mm × 200 mm × 200 mm, and the power consumption is 25 W. In this paper, the design of the ion source, mass analyzer, and detector is discussed in detail. The upper limit of the mass range is greater than 500 amu, and the best resolving power obtained so far on the miniature TOF MS is around 405 at full width half maximum (FWHM); other performance indexes of the instrument are also determined, where the worst case for mass stability is 0.49%, together with a mass accuracy of 0.12% and a sensitivity of 0.6 mV/ppm.

Gravity-driven catalytic nanofibrous membrane with microsphere and nanofiber coordinated structure for ultrafast continuous reduction of 4-nitrophenol.

Silver loaded nanofibrous membrane with high catalytic performance for 4-nitrophenol under continuous gravity-driven filtration was developed in this study. A polydopamine (PDA) microsphere and nanofiber coordinated composite structure was fabricated through an in situ PDA synthesis to achieve a high catalyst loading and controllable residence time of 4-nitrophenol. The incorporated PDA microspheres played an important role for the enhancement of catalytic performance due to the increased surface area (23% increase compared with PAN and PAN-PDAs-Ag) and reduced membrane porosity. Silver loading amount and the residence time of 4-nitrophenol was increased by more than 108% (from 1.2 wt% to 2.5 wt%) and 45% (from 0.79 s to 1.15 s) when comparing with PAN-PDAc-Ag and PAN-PDAs-Ag nanofibrous membrane. The conversion rate of 4-nitrophenol in a gravity-driven filtration process was as high as 97% when PAN-PDAs-Ag nanofibrous membrane was used, which was much higher than the PAN-PDAc-Ag membrane (80%). In addition, the PAN-PDAs-Ag nanofibrous membrane exhibited excellent recycle performance, the conversion rate was maintained as high as 93% after five times of reuse. The microsphere and nanofiber coordinated structure with enhanced surface area and controllable residence time of contaminants proposed in this study might advance the real applications of electrospun nanofibrous membrane for catalytic removal of contaminants.

Improving the sensitivity of miniature linear ion trap mass spectrometer by a DC voltage applied on the eject electrodes.

A miniaturized linear ion trap mass spectrometer with continuous atmospheric pressure interface has been built in our lab. Significant extension in mass range and reduction in power consumption have been realized by the supplemental alternating current frequency scan mode. However, relatively poor sensitivity has been witnessed, which is directly dominated by the detection efficiency of the ion detector. Theoretical analysis has been implemented to find ways to improve the detection efficiency. The results show that enhanced sensitivity can be obtained by applying a direct current voltage on the pair of electrodes in eject direction. Experiments show that the sensitivity has been improved by more than one time due to the application of direct current voltage. With this design, this homemade miniature linear ion trap mass spectrometer can be used to analyze more rarefied samples, especially to on-site chemical analysis and space application.

Simulation of the influence of constant uniform magnetic field on a miniature LIT mass spectrometer.

In this paper, the effects of constant uniform magnetic fields on a miniature linear ion trap mass spectrometer with hyperbolic electrodes are simulated using SIMION 8.0 3D software. Magnetic fields in different directions have different effects on the trajectories of the trapped ions and the shape of the ion cloud. When the magnetic field is applied in the z-direction, namely the ion injection direction, the magnetic field will cause the ions focusing to the z-axis, and exert a compression effect on the ion cloud. When the magnetic field is applied in the x-y plane, the original ion cloud will be expanded due to the action of the applied magnetic field, and the ion cloud plane after expansion is always perpendicular to the direction of the magnetic field. The discovery of influence field of magnetic will bring some useful inspiration for the improvement of ion trapping efficiency, mass resolution, sensitivity and trapping capacity, which is conductive to the performance enhancement utilization of magnetic field, even in the industrial application development and other aspects.

Performance evaluation of a miniature magnetic sector mass spectrometer onboard a satellite in space.

With the rapid development of space technology in China, it is urgent to use mass spectrometer to detect the space environment. In this work, a space miniature magnetic sector mass spectrometer is evaluated, which consists of three subsystems: (1) physical unit, (2) electric control unit, (3) and high voltage power. It has 90° magnetic sector-field analyzer with double trajectory, in which a trajectory measurement range is from 1 to 12 amu, the other range is from 6 to 90 amu.The mass spectrometer has two work models, one is used to measure space neutral gas when the filament of mass spectrometer ion source turned on, the other is used to measure space charged ions when the filament turned off. The absolute resolution of this device is less than 1 amu, the minimum detectable ion current is about 10-13 A, and the sensitivity is 10-6 A/Pa (N2). Its overall size is 170 mm × 165 mm × 170 mm, its weight is 4.5 kg, and its power consumption is 18 W. A series of environmental adaptability tests, including high and low temperature cycle, shock, vibration, thermal vacuum cycle, were carried out on the ground before launching, and sensitivity and peak position were also calibrated on the ground. In November 2012, the mass spectrometer was carried by an experimental satellite to 499 km sun synchronization and is still working right now. It successfully detected the atmosphere compositions both in the satellite orbit and gas-emitted from satellite, including O, He, 12CO2, 13CO2, H2, N2, O2, H2O, and so on.

Development of a low power miniature linear ion trap mass spectrometer with extended mass range.

A miniaturized ion trap mass spectrometer with continuous atmospheric pressure interface was built, which could be used in conjunction with internal ionization (in-vacuum plasma ionization) and external ionization (electrospray ionization). To improve its mass range, a supplemental AC signal frequency scan mode was performed for this miniature mass spectrometer, in which the fundamental RF signal was remained constant with an amplitude as low as several hundreds volts. Experiments showed that the upper limit of the mass range can be extended to 2500 Da for the miniature mass spectrometer developed in this work, and the power consumption can be reduced by 2/5, while maintaining good balance with performance parameters such as stability, sensitivity, and resolution. Due to the improvement in mass range and significant reduction in energy consumption compared with the instrument using the traditional resonant ejection mode, the scan method developed in this work is helpful to promote the miniature design of mass spectrometers for field analysis and space exploration.

[Pollution status and characteristics of PBDEs in indoor air of Hangzhou].

Pollution Status and characteristics of PBDEs in offices were investigated in Hangzhou. As a result, the total concentration of PBDEs was 40.66-141.00 pg x m(-3), and the mean concentration was 93.22 pg x m(-3), being 1.87 and 5.01 times as high as those in homes and outdoor. In particle and gas phases, BDE-47 and BDE-99 were the most abundant congeners, which accounted for 33.29% and 31.99% of total PBDEs, respectively. Concentration of PBDEs in gas phase was 1.34 times as high as that in particle phase. BDE-28, BDE-47 and BDE-99 mainly existed in the gas phase, while BDE-153 and BDE-183 mainly existed in the particle phase.

Formaldehyde concentration and its influencing factors in residential homes after decoration at Hangzhou, China.

Air pollution surveys of formaldehyde (HCHO) were conducted in 2324 rooms decorated within one year in 2007-2009 in Hangzhou, China. The mean HCHO concentration (CHCHO) was 0.107 +/- 0.095 mg/m3, and 38.9% of samples exceeded the Chinese National Standard GB 50325-2010. Over the past 3 years, the C(HCHO) decreased with time (p < 0.05). Relationships of potential factors to indoor C(HCHO) were also evaluated. C(HCHO) was related to temperature (T), relative humidity (RH), time duration of the windows and doors being closed before sampling (DC), time duration from the end of decoration to sampling (DR) and source characteristics (d). A model to relate indoor C(HCHO) to these five factors (T, RH, DC, DR, d) was established based on 298 samples (R2 = 0.87). Various factors contributed to C(HCHO) in the following order: T, 43.7%; d, 31.0%; DC, 10.2%; DR, 8.0%; RH, 7.0%; specifically, meteorological conditions (i.e., RH plus T) accounted for 50.7%. The coefficient of T and RH, R(TH), was proposed to describe their combined influence on HCHO emission, which also had a linear relationship (R2 = 0.9387) with HCHO release in a simulation chamber test. In addition, experiments confirm that it is a synergistic action as T and RH accelerate the release of HCHO, and that is a significant factor influencing indoor HCHO pollution. These achievements could lead to reference values of measures for the efficient reduction of indoor HCHO pollution.