Dielectric barrier discharge ionization, analytical instrument and ionization method

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12106954-B2
Application number	US-201917277999-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 17, 2019
Priority date	Oct 18, 2018
Publication date	Oct 1, 2024
Grant date	Oct 1, 2024

Abstract

The present invention provides dielectric barrier discharge ionization, including a dielectric barrier discharge tube and an electrode pair consisting of a first electrode and a second electrode. At least a portion of the dielectric barrier discharge tube is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode. The electrode pair can ionize the sample after the power is turned on. The dielectric barrier discharge tube is in communication with a vacuum portion. The pressure range in the dielectric barrier discharge tube is 0.01 to 100 Pa. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization provided by the invention remedies the defects of existing low-pressure ion sources in the pressure range, and provides the low-pressure ion source with high ionization ability, high versatility and simple devices.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus, comprising a dielectric barrier discharge tube and an electrode pair consisting of a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein at least a portion of the dielectric barrier discharge tube is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, the electrode pair ionizing a sample after power is turned on to the electrode pair, the dielectric barrier discharge tube is in communication with a vacuum pump, and a pressure range in the dielectric barrier discharge tube is 0.01 to 100 Pa, further comprising a sample inlet communicated with the dielectric barrier discharge tube, wherein the sample inlet is a through hole covered by a semi-permeable membrane, and the semi-permeable membrane isolates air from entering the dielectric barrier discharge tube while the sample to be detected permeates the semi-permeable membrane.

2. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the pressure range in the dielectric barrier discharge tube is 0.01 to 1 Pa or 1 to 30 Pa or 30 to 100 Pa.

3. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the dielectric barrier discharge tube has an inner diameter of 0.01 to 2.5 mm and a wall thickness of less than 1.5 mm.

4. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein an inner diameter size of the dielectric barrier discharge tube is selected from any one of the following ranges: (i) 0.01-0.1 mm; (ii) 0.1-0.2 mm; (iii) 0.2-0.5 mm; (iv) 0.5-0.8 mm; (v) 0.8-1.5 mm; (vi) 1.5-2.5 mm.

5. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 3 , wherein the dielectric barrier discharge tube has a wall thickness range of less than 0.2 mm, or less than 0.3 mm, or less than 0.4 mm, or less than 0.5 mm, or less than 0.6 mm, or less than 0.7 mm, or less than 0.8 mm, or less than 0.9 mm, or less than 1.0 mm, or less than 1.1 mm, or less than 1.2 mm, or less than 1.3 mm, or less than 1.4 mm.

6. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrode is configured to extend into the dielectric barrier discharge tube and the second electrode is configured to abut the outer wall of the dielectric barrier discharge tube.

7. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 6 , wherein a depth of the first electrode extending into the dielectric barrier discharge tube is less than the depth of the position where the second electrode abuts the outer wall of the dielectric barrier discharge tube.

8. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the first electrode and the second electrode are provided to abut different positions of the outer wall of the dielectric barrier discharge tube respectively.

9. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an alternating current voltage frequency applied between the first electrode and the second electrode during ionization is 10 Hz to 10 MHZ, a peak-to-peak amplitude is 100 to 10,000 V, and the waveform is a sine wave, a square wave, a sawtooth wave, a step wave, a triangular wave or a pulsed wave.

10. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an ionized substance outlet of the dielectric barrier discharge tube is provided downstream of the sample inlet, the sample enters through the sample inlet and mixes with and is ionized by an ionized substance flowing out of the ionized substance outlet.

11. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein the dielectric barrier discharge tube is a quartz tube, a common glass tube, a ceramic tube, or a polymer tube.

12. The dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein an intake inlet flow of the dielectric barrier discharge ionization ranges from 0 to 100 L/min.

13. An analytical instrument, which is a mass spectrometer or an ion mobility spectrometer or a spectrometer, the analytical instrument comprising a dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus according to claim 1 .

14. An ionization method, comprising ionizing a sample by a dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus operating in a pressure range of 0.01 to 100 Pa.

15. A mass spectrometer, comprising a dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus and a preceding stage, wherein the dielectric barrier discharge ionization apparatus includes: a dielectric barrier discharge tube, wherein the dielectric barrier discharge tube has an inner diameter of 0.01 to 2.5 mm and a wall thickness of less than 1.5 mm; a sample inlet communicated with the dielectric barrier discharge tube, wherein the sample inlet is a through hole, the through hole is covered by a semi-permeable membrane, and the semi-permeable membrane isolates air from entering the dielectric barrier discharge tube while a sample to be detected permeates the semi-permeable membrane; wherein the dielectric barrier discharge tube is also communicated with the preceding stage of the mass spectrometer, and the pressure range in the preceding stage and the dielectric barrier discharge tube is 0.01 to 100 Pa; and an electrode pair consisting of a first electrode and a second electrode, wherein at least a portion of the dielectric barrier discharge tube is provided between the first electrode and the second electrode, and the electrode pair ionizing the sample after power is turned on to the electrode pair.

Assignees

• Shimadzu Corp

Inventors

• Lin Yiming
• Sun Wenjian

Classifications

• H01J49/26

  Mass spectrometers or separator tubes · CPC title

• H01J49/04

  Arrangements for introducing or extracting samples to be analysed, e.g. vacuum locks; Arrangements for external adjustment of electron- or ion-optical components · CPC title

• H01J49/16 Primary

  using surface ionisation, e.g. field-, thermionic- or photo-emission · CPC title

• H01J49/168 Primary

  field ionisation, e.g. corona discharge (atmospheric pressure corona discharge per se H01T19/00) · CPC title

• H01J49/10 Primary

  Ion sources; Ion guns · CPC title