Micro-electrospray with stainless steel emitters

作者：Shui WQ; Yu YL; Xu XJ; Huang ZY; Xu GB; Yang PY^*

来源：Rapid Communications in Mass Spectrometry, 2003, 17(14): 1541-1547.

DOI：10.1002/rcm.1083

The physical processes underlying micro-electrospray (micro-ES) performance were investigated using a stainless steel (SS) emitter with a blunt tip. Sheathless micro-ES could be generated at a blunt SS tip without any tapering or sanding if ESI conditions were optimized. The Taylor cone was found to shrink around the inner diameter of the SS tubing, which permitted a low flow rate of 150 nL/min for sheathless microspray on the blunt tip (100 mum i.d. x 400 mum o.d.). It is believed that the wettability and/or hydrophobicity of SS tips are responsible for their micro-ES performance. The outlet orifice was further nipped to reduce the size of the spray cone and limit the flow rate to 50-150 nL/min, resulting in peptide detection down to attomole quantities consumed per spectrum. The SS emitter was also integrated into a polymethylmethacrylate microchip and demonstrated satisfactory performance in the analysis and identification of a myoglobin digest.

• 出版日期2003
• 单位复旦大学