Dielectric barrier discharge molecular emission spectrometer as gas chromatographic detector for amines

•Nano-SiO2 was immobilized on the inner wall of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) tube.•Amine molecular optical emission in the DBD plasma was enhanced by the nano-SiO2.•The DBD device was used as a sensitive gas chromatograpic detector for five amines.•Trimethylamine in a carp fish sample was monitored with storage time.

Nano-SiO2 was immobilized on the inner wall of a dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) tube, and it was coupled to a conventional gas chromatographer to investigate its performance as a molecular emission spectrometric detector for the determination of five volatile aliphatic amines. A charge-coupled device (CCD) was applied to observe the nano-SiO2-enhanced molecular emission spectra. The characteristic molecular emission bands of volatile aliphatic amines at 326.5 nm, 336.0 nm and 388.3 nm can be clearly resolved from the background emission spectra of carrier gas argon. The emission band of CN at 388.3 nm was used for quantitative detection of volatile aliphatic amines due to its high sensitivity. Nanomaterial catalysts including TiO2, MnO2, SiO2 and ZnO were tested to enhance the emission signal of amines, and SiO2 shows the best performance. The factors that influence the emission signal, such as discharge voltage, inner electrode length and carrier gas flow rate, were investigated in detail. The analytical performance of this method was evaluated by separation and detection of the mixture of five volatile aliphatic amines. Under the optimal experimental conditions, the limits of detection were found to be 4.4, 2.5, 2.2, 1.8 and 2.4 μg for dimethylamine, trimethylamine, n-butylamine, cyclohexylamine and ethylenediamine, respectively. This GC detector is not only sensitive but also fast in response to volatile aliphatic amines with good stability. Trimethylamine in a carp fish sample was monitored with storage time by the proposed method.