Modifications to a commercially available linear mass spectrometer for mass-resolved microscopy with the pixel...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Spectroscopy
• Materials Science

Background:

• Imaging mass spectrometry provides spatially resolved chemical data from 2D samples.
• Simultaneous surface probing requires high spatial/temporal resolution detectors for diverse mass-to-charge ratios.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a multi-mass, microscope-mode imaging technique for faster chemical analysis.
• To integrate a novel pixel imaging mass spectrometry (PImMS) camera with a time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

Main Methods:

• Combined a commercial time-of-flight mass spectrometer with a PImMS camera for multi-mass imaging.
• Performed minor modifications to spectrometer hardware and ion optics for spatial imaging of small molecules.

Main Results:

• Achieved peak width < 1 m/z unit (200–800 m/z) with 25 µm spatial resolution.
• Acquired data simultaneously for all analytes without parameter scanning.

Conclusions:

• Demonstrated reduced acquisition time for spatially distributed analytes using multi-mass, microscope-mode imaging.
• Showcased that conventional commercial machines can be modified for this advanced imaging capability.