Researchers can more quickly detect minute residues of chemical warfare agents adhering to solid surfaces using a novel mass analyzer. They can isolate trace amounts of chemical warfare agents within the instrument and then break them apart to obtain chemical identification.
Researchers at the Department of Energy's INEEL can detect part-permillion levels of chemical warfare agents such as the blister agent HD or the nerve agent VX using a novel iontrap secondary ion mass spectrometer (IT-SIMS).
INEEL researchers are developing surface analysis instrumentation for environmental samples such as soil or plant surfaces. Better analytical techniques for these kinds of materials support environmental restoration and national security Department of Energy missions. Chemical warfare agent detection is just one application of IT-SIMS.
Using IT-SIMS, researchers bombard the surface of a sample with a polyatomic projectile to lift of "sputter" off molecules adhering to the sample surface. The sputtered molecules, called secondary ions, retain the chemical characteristics of the chemical warfare agent stuck to the surface of the soil. The secondary ions are filtered by mass and then counted. That data is displayed as a spectra (a bar graph that plots the number of ions versus their mass) that researchers then use to identify the chemicals.
IT-SIMS is particularly suited to applications such as chemical weapon agent detection because such chemicals are designed to be both adsorptive and persistent-to stick to any and all surfaces and stay there. Using IT-SIMS, researchers can collect large numbers of intact ions from the sample surface and accurately identify the chemical substances. Researchers can analyze samples as small as 3 to 4 mg with minimal sample preparation on the order of 5 minutes.
Purpose of the current two-year study is to test the feasibility of using IT-SIMS to detect chemical warfare agents, and then develop portable instrumentation. The design and fabrication work, chemical agent degradation product and precursor testing is being carried out at INEEL facilities.
Testing of live chemical warfare agents is being conducted under controlled conditions at the U.S. Army West Desert Test Center Chemistry Laboratory, Dugway Proving Ground, Dugway, Utah. This research is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA).