Ternary Gas Mixture Quantification Using Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS)

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Chemical Sensing
• Spectrometry

Background:

• Accurate quantification of chemical compounds in gas mixtures is vital for applications such as odor recording and reproduction.
• Odors are complex mixtures of various chemical compounds, necessitating precise analytical methods for their characterization.
• Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS) is an analytical technique that separates ions based on their size and shape.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the feasibility of using FAIMS for the quantification of ternary gas mixtures.
• To develop and validate a method for determining the concentrations of individual components in a gas mixture using FAIMS.
• To assess the accuracy and precision of FAIMS in gas mixture quantification.

Main Methods:

• A ternary gas mixture composed of acetone (ketone), ethanol (alcohol), and diethyl ether (ether) was prepared at 125 different concentration points.
• Measurements were performed using Field Asymmetric Ion Mobility Spectrometry (FAIMS).
• Data analysis involved evaluating error hypersurfaces, variance, and coefficients of variation, utilizing a gradient descent method for simulation.

Main Results:

• The error hypersurface analysis indicated that target compositions could be achieved by following the gradient.
• A simulation based on measurement data successfully converged using the gradient descent method.
• The results demonstrated the potential for accurate quantification of individual components within the gas mixture.

Conclusions:

• FAIMS is a feasible technique for the quantification of gas mixtures.
• The developed method shows promise for applications requiring precise chemical composition analysis, such as in odor analysis.
• Further research can explore the application of FAIMS to more complex gas mixtures and real-world samples.