Premium
Tabletop extreme ultraviolet time‐of‐flight spectrometry for trace analysis of high ionization energy samples
Author(s) -
Arbelo Yunieski,
Bleiner Davide
Publication year - 2019
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.8463
Subject(s) - photoionization , extreme ultraviolet , mass spectrometry , ionization , chemistry , microchannel plate detector , quadrupole mass analyzer , atomic physics , atmospheric pressure laser ionization , physics , detector , ion , optics , laser , organic chemistry , chromatography
Rationale Species with ionization energies beyond what is accessible using state‐of‐the‐art lab sources are affected by poor detection limits in ordinary mass spectrometry setups, whose throughput is also often limited. Extreme ultraviolet (XUV) photoionization mass spectrometry, in combination with linear time‐of‐flight (TOF), is necessary for the sensitive detection of high ionization energy compounds at trace level. XUV photoionization is available at beamlines, although with limited access. A tabletop setup may fill such a gap. Methods A self‐developed tabletop system, based on a plasma discharge with extreme ultraviolet emission (λ = 5‐50 nm) coupled to a TOF mass spectrometer, was used in this study. Simultaneous validation measurements with a reference electron ionization quadrupole mass filter were carried out. An in‐house developed hollow toroidal coil (HTC) induction detector was used for concomitant photoelectron detection. Results Straightforward XUV mass spectra without fragmentation, thanks to the single‐photon ionization, were acquired. The measurements with the reference quadrupole were in agreement with the spectra acquired by XUV‐TOF. The resolution obtained for N 2 was at least factor of 2 higher than that measured with the reference quadrupole. Initial energy distributions of photoelectrons were retrieved by cross‐correlation that gave access to the photoionization distribution. Conclusions The system allows XUV single‐photon ionization of elements and molecules with IE >10 eV that are of fundamental interest e.g. for water splitting and catalysis research. The demonstrated performance is now suitable for a prototype platform.