Method and apparatus for preserving the sensitivity of a thermionic ionization detector

摘要

Method and apparatus for the analysis of one or more analytes present in a sample that may be dissolved in a hostile solvent and carried in a first fluid. The first fluid is combined with a first detector fluid to provide a fluid mixture which flows across the surface of an ionization source (211). The analytes are ionized by means of an ionization process in which electrical charge is transferred from the ionization source (211) and converted into gas phase ion species. The ion current is collected and measured at a collector electrode (213) adjacent to the ionization source (211). The flow of the first detector fluid is reduced during the presence of the solvent at the ionization source (211) so as to suppress a chemical reaction that heretofore would degrade the sensitivity of the detector (24; 201).