Analysis of 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene, pentaerythritol tetranitrate and cyclo-1,3,5-trimethylene-2,4,6-trinitramine using negative corona discharge ion mobility spectrometry

In this study, the capability of negative corona discharge ion mobility spectrometry (IMS) for quantitative magnitude of several explosives including 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT), pentaerythritol tetranitrate (PETN) and cyclo-1,3,5-trimethylene-2,4,6-trinitramine (RDX) has been evaluated for the first time. The total current obtained with the negative corona discharge was about 100 times larger than that of IMS based on Ni-63, which results in a lower detection limit and a wider linear dynamic range. The detection limits for PETN, TNT and RDX were 8 x 10(-11), 7 x 10(-11) and 3 x 10(-10) g, respectively. The calibration plots for these explosives showed linear dynamic ranges of about four orders of magnitude. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.