Study of the surface ionization detector for gas chromatography

The structure of the surface ionization detector (SID) and the operation parameters of GC–SID were investigated to reduce peak tailing and to enhance sensitivity. The performances of the GC–SID, including its repeatability, linearity, sensitivity, selectivity, and tolerance towards water vapor, were evaluated systematically. Compared with nitrogen–phosphorus detector (NPD), the SID was able to detect fg level triethylamine, and selectively respond to alkylamines, some anilines, and some nitrogen heterocyclic compounds. Among alkylamines, the SID sensitivity to diisobutylamine was rather small. Even so, it was also still 10 times higher than that on NPD. The SID selectivity, defined as the sensitivity ratio between triethylamine and various tested non-nitrogen compounds, was higher than 106. It was found that the SID is highly tolerant towards water vapor, allowing direct injection of water sample. Finally, the GC–SID was applied to directly measure trace amines in headspace gases of rotted meat and trace simazine in tap water. The SID sensitivity to simazine was proven to be 5 times higher than that on flame ionization detector (FID). This study suggests that the SID is a promising GC detector.