Active capillary plasma source for ambient mass spectrometry

Imaging mass spectrometry with high spatial resolution has become a rapidly developing area of mass spectrometric research. Many scientific and industrial problems deal with mass spectrometric analysis at ambient pressures. This requires efficient transport and ionization of small amounts of substance.

An active sampling capillary based on a dielectric barrier discharge was constructed for ambient mass spectrometry. The capillary serves as an ionization source as well as an atmospheric interface of the mass spectrometer. The analyzed samples are transported through the sampling capillary due to the pressure difference between the atmospheric environment and the vacuum in the mass spectrometer. Ionization of the transported samples is provided by a low-temperature dielectric barrier discharge. This active capillary was shown to work in a robust fashion for ionizing both gas-phase and laser-ablated solid-phase samples.

The geometry of the electrodes was found to play a crucial role in ionization efficiency. The capillary was optimized in order to perform surface analysis of solid samples. Sensitivity tests were carried out to characterize different active capillary constructions. The sensitivity of the constructed active capillary was 0.1 ppb (relative concentration of a gaseous sample in ambient air). The active capillary was able to detect samples evaporated from a solid surface. With the active capillary source, it was possible to detect anthracene traces evaporated from a surface located 3 cm from the capillary inlet.

A plasma-based active capillary ionization source was constructed. This concept of an active sample inlet should broaden the range of applications of ambient mass spectrometry.