Atmos. Meas. Tech., 9, 2735–2752, 2016 www.atmos-meas-tech.net/9/2735/2016/ doi:10.5194/amt-9-2735-2016 © Author(s) 2016. CC Attribution 3.0 License. A high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass C spectrometer utilizing hydronium ions (H3O ToF-CIMS) for measurements of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere Bin Yuan1,2, Abigail Koss1,2,3, Carsten Warneke1,2, Jessica B. Gilman1, Brian M. Lerner1,2, Harald Stark2,3,4, and Joost A. de Gouw1,2,3 1NOAA Earth System Research Laboratory (ESRL), Chemical Sciences Division, Boulder, CO, USA 2Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado at Boulder, Boulder, CO, USA 3Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of Colorado at Boulder, CO, USA 4Aerodyne Research Inc., Billerica, MA 01821, USA Correspondence to: Bin Yuan (
[email protected]) Received: 20 January 2016 – Published in Atmos. Meas. Tech. Discuss.: 9 February 2016 Revised: 17 May 2016 – Accepted: 9 June 2016 – Published: 1 July 2016 Abstract. Proton transfer reactions between hydronium ions research aircraft for the SONGNEX campaign in spring of C (H3O / and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) provide a 2015. The measured mixing ratios of several aromatics from C fast and highly sensitive technique for VOC measurements, the H3O ToF-CIMS agreed within ±10 % with independent leading to extensive use of proton-transfer-reaction mass gas chromatography measurements from whole air samples. spectrometry (PTR-MS) in atmospheric research. Based on Initial results from the SONGNEX measurements demon- C the same ionization approach, we describe the development strate that the H3O ToF-CIMS data set will be valuable for of a high-resolution time-of-flight chemical ionization mass the identification and characterization of emissions from var- C spectrometer (ToF-CIMS) utilizing H3O as the reagent ious sources, investigation of secondary formation of many C ion.