Articles | Volume 19, issue 13
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-4583-2026
https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-19-4583-2026
Research article
 | 
14 Jul 2026
Research article |  | 14 Jul 2026

Voltage scanning to calibrate Multi-Reagent Chemical Ionization Mass Spectrometers (MR-CIMS): from signal to sensitivity

Yuwei Wang, Aristeidis Voliotis, Emily Matthews, Rongrong Wu, Milan Roska, Max Gerrit Adam, René Dubus, Lukas Kesper, Franz Rohrer, Robert Wegener, Benjamin Winter, Kelvin H. Bates, Quanfu He, Thorsten Hohaus, Achim Grasse, Ralf Tillmann, Andreas Wahner, Hui Wang, Christian Wesolek, Sergej Wedel, Yizhen Wu, Sören R. Zorn, Manjula Canagaratna, Douglas Worsnop, Felipe Lopez-Hilfiker, Georgios I. Gkatzelis, Hugh Coe, and Thomas J. Bannan

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Cited articles

Aggarwal, S., Bansal, P., Wang, Y., Jorga, S., Macgregor, G., Rohner, U., Bannan, T., Salter, M., Zieger, P., Mohr, C., and Lopez-Hilfiker, F.: Identifying key parameters that affect sensitivity of flow tube chemical ionization mass spectrometers, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 18, 4227–4247, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-18-4227-2025, 2025. 
Albrecht, S. R., Novelli, A., Hofzumahaus, A., Kang, S., Baker, Y., Mentel, T., Wahner, A., and Fuchs, H.: Measurements of hydroperoxy radicals (HO2) at atmospheric concentrations using bromide chemical ionisation mass spectrometry, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 12, 891–902, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-12-891-2019, 2019. 
Bertram, T. H., Kimmel, J. R., Crisp, T. A., Ryder, O. S., Yatavelli, R. L. N., Thornton, J. A., Cubison, M. J., Gonin, M., and Worsnop, D. R.: A field-deployable, chemical ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer, Atmos. Meas. Tech., 4, 1471–1479, https://doi.org/10.5194/amt-4-1471-2011, 2011. 
Bianchi, F., Kurtén, T., Riva, M., Mohr, C., Rissanen, M. P., Roldin, P., Berndt, T., Crounse, J. D., Wennberg, P. O., Mentel, T. F., Wildt, J., Junninen, H., Jokinen, T., Kulmala, M., Worsnop, D. R., Thornton, J. A., Donahue, N., Kjaergaard, H. G., and Ehn, M.: Highly Oxygenated Organic Molecules (HOM) from Gas-Phase Autoxidation Involving Peroxy Radicals: A Key Contributor to Atmospheric Aerosol, Chem. Rev., 119, 3472–3509, https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.chemrev.8b00395, 2019. 
Boll, P. M., Hordvik, A., Tvedten, O., Linderot, T., Veige, S., and Diczfalusy, E.: Intra- and Intermolecular Hydrogen Bonds in Nitro- and Nitrosophenols., Acta Chem. Scand., 12, 1777–1781, https://doi.org/10.3891/acta.chem.scand.12-1777, 1958. 
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Short summary
This work developed voltage scanning based calibration approach for a multi-reagent chemical ionization mass spectrometry. This approach improves sensitivity determination for gas-phase compounds. It does not require a calibrant for the target analyte and can estimate sensitivity with acceptable uncertainty based on the experimentally established relationship between binding energies and measured sensitivities. This work is broadly relevant to mass-spectrometric calibration strategies.
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