CHIP-SCALE MASS ANALYZERS FOR LOW-COST UNDERWATER MASS SPECTROMETERS

IonicScale LLC is developing the world’s most compact, novel mass spectrometry-based chemical analyzers. These instruments will have wide ranging applications in environmental pollution monitoring, personalized medicine, food safety, biomanufacturing, forensics and law enforcement, defense, and space exploration. With an appropriate sampling system, these instruments can even be used underwater for several purposes including to detect leaks in offshore oil and gas structures; detect, locate and identify toxic industrial chemicals dumped in our oceans; and study various important aspects that impact the health of ocean ecosystems, such as dissolved inorganic carbon (DIC) levels. To enable these important applications, this Phase I award will enable the design of the submersible enclosure and a novel membrane inlet sampling interface to enable ocean-based in-situ deployment of the IonicScale Gen I mass-analyzer system.