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PTR-MS Characterization of Carbon Nanotube Preconcentrators for Trace Chemical Signature Detection


EMSL Project ID
3502

Abstract

Nanoscience and technology has tremendous potential in the preparation of high surface area solids and chemically selective materials. Characterization of the uptake of chemicals for separations and sensing is a critical need for such materials in order to understand their chemical selectivity and other properties of interest. In particular, the kinetics of uptake and release are of significant importance.

Carbon nanotube (CNT) composites represent a potentially significant advancement in the field of preconcetration and analytical separations due to their high surface area and high thermal conductivity. These two characteristics in particular suggest that CNT composites have a high probability for improving state-of-the-art in preconcentrator-facilitated trace detection. The high surface area of CNTs allows for effective miniaturization of the preconcentrator, while high thermal conductivity allows for fast cycling of the preconcentrator. Compactness is desirable for two reasons: (i) the resulting structure can be easily inserted into small-scale (eg. discrete) detection packages, and (ii) a small preconcentrator reduces problems such as non-uniform heating/cooling and dead volume in the detection scheme, which leads to better analytical separation and chemical identification.

This project seeks to develop approaches for preconcentration of gas phase constituents using CNT composite materials. Proton transfer reaction mass spectrometry (PTR-MS) will be used to obtain performance data of the CNT preconcentration materials, such as capacity, breakthrough volume, preconcentration factor, and separation. The extreme sensitivity of PTR-MS is required because the target application is trace chemical detection.

Project Details

Project type
Exploratory Research
Start Date
2003-06-26
End Date
2006-02-17
Status
Closed

Team

Principal Investigator

Feng Zheng
Institution
Pacific Northwest National Laboratory