Add-On Device Powered by Parallelized Adsorption Traps for Preconcentrator-GC–MS Measurement of sub-pmol/mol Levels of NF3

• Published in: ACS omega Vol. 9; no. 35; pp. 37225 - 37230
• Main Authors: Lim, Jeong Sik, Yoon, Doohyun, Kim, Taewan, Lee, Jinbok
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Chemical Society 03-09-2024
• ISSN: 2470-1343; 2470-1343
• DOI: 10.1021/acsomega.4c04563

In this study, an add-on preconcentration device powered by parallelized pretraps (PPTs) was utilized to measure the sub-pmol/mol levels of NF3 in N2. The add-on preconcentrator was coupled to the detachable trap preconcentrator (DTP) with a gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer [Anal. Chem. 2019, 91, 3342–3349]. The breakthrough volume of the parallel configuration was found to be substantially higher than that of the serial configuration with the same amount of adsorbent (HayeSep D). Liquid oxygen (LO2) cooling (−183 °C) exhibited better preconcentration performance for NF3 in N2 compared to NF3 in air (N2 + O2) with liquid nitrogen cooling (−195 °C) and NF3 in air with LO2 cooling. The DTP unit was essential to discriminate residual species, such as N2, O2, CO2, and CF4, of which the preconcentrated portion in the PPT can be excessive, enabling the overwhelm filtering capability of the quadrupole mass spectrometer. The limit of detection of NF3 in N2 of the PPT/DTP/gas chromatograph–mass spectrometer was 0.01 ppt, which is significantly better than that determined without using the add-on preconcentration device (0.21 ppt).