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Time‐of‐flight mass spectrometric analysis of ion formation in hypervelocity impact of organic polymer microspheres: comparison with secondary ion mass spectrometry, 252 Cf mass spectrometry and laser mass spectrometry
Author(s) -
Kissel Jochen,
Krueger Franz R.
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
rapid communications in mass spectrometry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.528
H-Index - 136
eISSN - 1097-0231
pISSN - 0951-4198
DOI - 10.1002/rcm.431
Subject(s) - mass spectrometry , chemistry , time of flight mass spectrometry , ion , analytical chemistry (journal) , secondary ion mass spectrometry , comet , static secondary ion mass spectrometry , time of flight , chromatography , astrobiology , ionization , physics , organic chemistry
Unisized 1.6‐µm polystyrene microspheres coated with PEDOT (polyethylene‐dioxythiophene) were accelerated to speeds of 6–16 km/s and shot onto a silver target. Either positive or negative ions, both instantaneously formed by the impact process, have been analyzed by time‐of‐flight mass spectrometry (TOF). Apparently, the processes that control the formation of ions of either polarity depend on the impact velocity. Comparing the results with those of secondary ion mass spectrometry with primary ion energy in both the elastic and the inelastic ( 252 Cf‐MS) energy loss regimes, some reaction mechanisms of the polymer ions for different energy densities could be elucidated. Some aspects of ion formation are also related to those found in pulsed laser ion generation from these microspheres. This investigation was performed in order to further improve the method of analyzing the organic fraction of interstellar, interplanetary, and cometary dust particles impinging on the targets of the ‘CIDA’ time‐of‐flight (TOF) mass spectrometers on‐board the NASA comet missions ‘STARDUST’ and ‘CONTOUR’. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.