Thermospray sample introduction to atomic spectrometry

Chemical Reaction Interface Mass Spectrometry with High Efficiency Nebulization

A high efficiency nebulizer (HEN) coupled to a heated spray chamber and a membrane desolvator is used for liquid sample introduction in chemical reaction interface mass spectrometry (CRIMS). Compared to the conventional thermospray nebulizer operated at solvent flow rate of 1 mL/min, the HEN provides small droplets at lower flow rates (10-100 microL/min), improving the desolvation and analyte transport efficiency. As a result, the sensitivity for carbon detection by CRIMS is improved by a factor of 4. The new arrangement offers an easy-to-use and robust interface, facilitating the availability of a variety of liquid chromatographic techniques to the CRIMS. Separation and detection of labeled peptides in a mixture of unlabeled biopolymers is illustrated at a solvent flow rate of 45 microL/min as an example of new possibilities offered by the improved liquid introduction interface.

A Spray-Based Method for the Production of Semiconductor Nanocrystals

We present a spray based-method for the formation and production of semiconductor nanocrystals that provides an attractive alternative to the commonly used epitaxial and colloidal procedures. According to this spray-based method, mainly thermospray, solutions of semiconductor salts are first sprayed into monodispersed droplets, which subsequently become solid nanocrystals by solvent evaporation. A semiconductor nanocrystal is produced from a single spray droplet upon the full vaporization of the solvent. The average diameter and size distribution of the final nanocrystals are controlled and determined by the solute concentration of the sprayed solution and by the droplet size, hence by the spray production parameters. The spray-produced nanocrystals are collected on any selected solid support. Representative results, shown in this letter, reveal the formation of CdS nanocrystals in the size range of 3 to 6 nanometers and with a size distribution of as low as five percent. A further structural analysis of these nanocrystals showed that they were formed in the zinc blend phase with a high degree of crystallinity.