Specific O₂⁻ generation in corona discharge for ion mobility spectrometry.

This study deals with O(2)(-) generation in corona discharge (CD) in point to plane geometry for single flow ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) with gas outlet located behind the ionization source. We have designed CD of special geometry in order to achieve the high O(2)(-) yield. Using this ion source we have achieved in zero air conditions that up to 74% all negative ions were O(2)(-) or O(2)(-)(H(2)O). It has been demonstrated that the non-electronegative nitrogen positively influences the efficiency of O(2)(-) generation in O(2)/N(2) mixtures. The reduced ion mobility of 2.27 cm(2)V(-1)s(-1) has been measured for O(2)(-)/O(2)(-)(H(2)O) ions in zero air. Additional ions detected in zero air (less than 200 ppb CO(2)) using the mass spectrometric and IMS technique were, NO(2)(-), N(2)O(2)(-) (2.37 cm(2)V(-1)s(-1)), NO(3)(-), N(2)O(3)(-) and N(2)O(3)(-)(H(2)O). The CO(3)(-) and CO(4)(-) ions have been detected after the introduction of 5 ppm CO(2) into zero air.