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Pros and cons of Argon/methane versus Nitrogen in GC-ECD
Posted: Thu Jun 25, 2009 9:15 pm
by deed11
Hi Everyone!
Can anyone guide me what are the advantages and disadvantages of using Argon/methane against Nitrogen and vice versa in GC-ECD? If anyone cite some literature...
Thanks
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 1:55 am
by Don_Hilton
Expect better sensitivity with the argon/methane mixture because of processes like the Penning effect (
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penning_ionization). See also
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penning_mixture. Also expect greater cost.
The discussion of the proportional counter may also be helpful.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proportional_counter
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 8:15 am
by deed11
Thank you very much for all that information
Posted: Fri Jun 26, 2009 12:47 pm
by AICMM
deed11,
As Don notes, argon/methane is supposed to give you better sensitivity. Nitrogen is supposed to give more dynamic range (although ECD's don't have much dynamic range to begin with....) Which one is more important to you usually drives the choice.
Best regards.
Posted: Mon Jun 29, 2009 3:29 pm
by Ron
ECD sensitivity is application dependent. I have seen cases in which P5 is better than nitrogen, and other cases where there is no significant difference. The only way to know if the application is better wtih P5 is to try it or find a good literature reference.