Enhanced ionization efficiency in TIMS analyses of plutonium and americium using porous ion emitters

• Pt/Re and platinum PIEs were used to measure trace quantities of Am and Pu.
• PIEs offer superior ion yield over traditional single filament TIMS sources.
• An 1100% boost in Am ion yield was observed using Pt/Re PIEs.
• Pt/Re PIEs exhibited 550% improvement in Pu ionization efficiency.
• Platinum PIEs show an additional 134% boost in Pu ion yield over Pt/Re PIEs.

Investigations of enhanced sample utilization in thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS) using porous ion emitter (PIE) techniques for the analyses of trace quantities of americium and plutonium were performed. Repeat ionization efficiency (i.e., the ratio of ions detected to atoms loaded on the filament) measurements were conducted on sample sizes ranging from 10–100 pg for americium and 1–100 pg for plutonium using PIE and traditional (i.e., a single, zone-refined rhenium, flat filament ribbon with a carbon ionization enhancer) TIMS filament sources. When compared to traditional filaments, PIEs exhibited an average boost in ionization efficiency of ∼550% for plutonium and ∼1100% for americium. A maximum average efficiency of 1.09% was observed at a 1 pg plutonium sample loading using PIEs. Supplementary trials were conducted using newly developed platinum PIEs to analyze 10 pg mass loadings of plutonium. Platinum PIEs exhibited an additional ∼134% boost in ion yield over standard PIEs and ∼736% over traditional filaments at the same sample loading level.

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