Effects of device voltage on release of key aerosol components in e-cigarette

In order to accurately determine the release of key components (1, 2-propylene glycol, glycerol and nicotine) in the aerosol of e-cigarettes and to investigate the influence of device voltage on the release, a gas chromatography method for the determination of 1, 2-propylene glycol, glycerol and nicotine contents in the aerosol of e-cigarette was developed. A number of factors were investigated, such as internal standards, extraction solvent volume, extraction time, etc. Based on the developed method, three e-liquids were analyzed under different voltages. The results showed that:1) The developed method was sensitive and possessed good repeatability and high recovery rate, hence suitable for the quantitative analysis of 1, 2-propylene glycol, glycerol and nicotine in the aerosol of e-cigarettes. 2) With the increase of device voltage from 3.7 to 6.9 V, the release of TPM, 1, 2-propylene glycol, glycerol and nicotine in the aerosol increased, and the TPM release linearly correlated to the voltage (R²≥0.980 6). 3) The release of nicotine in the aerosol positively correlated to the concentration of nicotine in the e-liquids, the correlation between the release of nicotine and 1, 2-propylene glycol in the aerosol was the closest (R²≥0.991 8), which indicated that 1, 2-propylene glycol played an important role in nicotine delivery. 4) Variance analysis suggested that device voltage and nicotine concentration in the e-liquid significantly affected the release of nicotine in the aerosol, the influence degree of nicotine concentration in the e-liquid was slightly stronger than that of device voltage based on the values of partial η².