Characterization of two polyphosphazene materials as membranes in membrane induction mass spectrometry Original Research Article

Membrane introduction mass spectrometry (MIMS) has made large strides in capability improvement since its introduction. The main progress has been in systematic design changes that has allowed this technique to measure analytes in the parts-per-trillion range, samples that have had no special handling or pre-treatment. In spite of these improvements, however, the most important component of MIMS—the membrane—has not been optimized. In this paper, the results of testing two polyphosphazene polymers is reported and compared with those of silicone rubber. The results show that the rich chemical diversity possible with the phosphazene materials and their tailorability, make them good candidates for MIMS applications.