Development of a Near-Infrared Photoacoustic System for Selective, Fast, and Fully Automatized Detection of Isotopically Labeled Ammonia.

ABSTRACT: Different environmental and industrial technologies seek for fast and automatic ammonia detection systems, capable of the selective measurement of the concentration of its isotopes at sub-ppm levels, without any interference with the common contaminants. In this work, we report the quasi-simultaneous measurement of ¹⁴NH₃ and ¹⁵NH₃ concentrations based on a near-infrared diode laser-based photoacoustic system. Using a widely tunable external cavity diode laser, four nearby wavelengths within the range of 1531.3-1531.8 nm were optimal circumstances for sensitive detection, while avoiding interference with water vapor. Subsequently, a more robust distributed feedback diode laser was employed to tune the laser wavelength on the sub-second timescale by varying its driving current rather than using much slower temperature tuning. The detection limit of our system is 0.15 and 0.73 ppm for ¹⁴NH₃ and ¹⁵NH₃ (with an accuracy below 0.1%), respectively, and the response time is 3.5 s.

SUBMITTER: Ouma EA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9583071 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature