Effect of Temperature on Separation of Sarin (GB) Ions in Differential Mobility Spectrometry

Different environmental conditions in which, equipment based on differential ion mobility spectrometry must operate, forced designers and engineers to analyze the impact of, among other things, external factors on their performance and efficiency. These devices, thanks to the DMS technology, can identify and characterize the ions contained in the gaseous state. However, many areas of this technique remain undiscovered, which should be examined in more detail. One such aspect is the influence of the temperature of gaseous medium, containing tested analyte. The research presented in this article shows why temperature is an important factor on the distribution of generated peaks. The results are shown for different spectra generated carrier gas temperatures (50°C - 80°C) in which ions were toxic warfare agents. Based on those graphs, it can be stated that increase of the temperature allows for better separation of the peaks from the background. Because of the similar ion mobility of the analyte and background ions for high and low electric field, DMS device can send false alarms, due to the poor interpretations of passing a signal to them. So to be able to accurately assess the level of risk due to the presence of substances BST in air, the test medium was added to isobutanol and isopropanol additives. They help better analyze and separate measured ions.