Analysis of Black Powder by Ion Mobility-Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry

Ion mobility-time-of-flight mass spectrometry (IM-TOFMS) was used to identify and correlate response ions associated with three black powder samples by mass and mobility. Vapors produced by thermal desorption of the black powders were ionized by a Ni-63 source; subsequent response ions were separated and identified using IM-TOFMS. The same response ions were found for each black powder regardless of geographic origin. The most intense mass and mobility peaks were attributed to ionic forms of sulfur allotropes (S-32(n)-, where n = 1-5). Vapor samples from GOEX black powder were also analyzed by two stand-alone ion mobility spectrometry systems, yielding an average reduced mobility value (K-o) of 2.28 +/- 0.02 cm(2) V-1 s(-1) for black powder across all three instruments.