PNNL Patents an Updated Ion Funnel

The United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a patent to Battelle, (Columbus, OH) (Number 15815), which manages Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, Washington) (PNNL), for an improvement upon their patented ion funnel technology. The device, invented by Mikhail E. Belov, provides a high-charge capacity trap, and has been demonstrated to increase sensitivity by an order of magnitude (10x) when compared to continuous operation mode.

The technology also has been shown to result in efficient removal of singly charged ions by controlling the ion ejection times; thus, the signal-to-noise ratio for measurement of multiply charged species is increased. The high sensitivity and efficient trapping capability of the ion funnel trap has led to its application in several emerging PNNL instrument systems, including the multidimensional analytical platform based on integrated liquid chromatography/time-of-flight mass spectrometry and a high-sensitivity triple quadrupole system.

Researchers at PNNL, a U.S. Department of Energy laboratory, have fully implemented the ion funnel trap in mass spectrometry systems at the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory on the PNNL campus.