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Recent advances in entirely hand-held ionization sources for mass spectrometry

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Abstract

Ambient ionization mass spectrometry (AIMS) has been developing explosively since its first debut. The ionization process was hence able to be achieved under atmospheric pressure, facilitating on-site field analysis in a variety of areas, such as clinical diagnosis, metabolic phenotyping, and surface analysis. As part of the ambitious goal of making MS a general device that can be used in everyday life, lots of efforts have been paid to miniaturize the ionization source. This review discusses avant-garde sources that could be entirely hand-held without any accessories. The structure and applications of the devices are described in detail as well. They could be expediently used in real-time and on-site analysis, presenting a great future potential for the routinizing of MS.

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Abbreviations

AIMS:

Ambient ionization mass spectrometry

APCI:

Atmosphere pressure chemical ionization

CBS:

Coated blade spray

CFI:

Carbon fiber ionization

CI:

Chemical ionization

DAPCI:

Desorption atmospheric pressure chemical ionization

DAPI:

Discontinuous atmospheric pressure interface

DART:

Direct analysis in real time

DESI:

Desorption electrospray ionization

ESI:

Electron spray ionization

EI:

Electron ionization

HV:

High voltage

LC-MS:

Liquid chromatograph-mass spectrometry

LTP:

Low-temperature plasma

MALDI:

Matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization

MS:

Mass spectrometry

MSP:

MasSpec Pointer

PIRL:

Picosecond infrared laser

PSI:

Paper spray ionization

REIMS:

Rapid evaporative ionization mass spectrometry

VSSI:

Vibrating sharp-edge spray ionization

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Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 2162S504, 21827807, 21790390/21790392), the Natural Science Foundation of Ningxia Province (2023AAC03013), Ningxia University, and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing National Laboratory for Molecular Sciences, Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Living Biosystems, Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100190, China

    Jinghan Fan, Yile Yu & Zongxiu Nie

  2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China

    Jinghan Fan, Yile Yu & Zongxiu Nie

  3. State Key Laboratory of High-Efficiency Utilization of Coal and Green Chemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Ningxia University, Yinchuan, 750021, China

    Wenbo Ma, Yuze Li & Zongxiu Nie

Authors
  1. Jinghan Fan
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  2. Wenbo Ma
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  3. Yile Yu
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  4. Yuze Li
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Contributions

Conceptualization: Nie Zongxiu, Li Yuze. Writing—original draft preparation: Fan Jinghan. Writing—review and editing: Fan Jinghan, Li Yuze, Ma Wenbo, Yu Yile. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Yuze Li or Zongxiu Nie.

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Fan, J., Ma, W., Yu, Y. et al. Recent advances in entirely hand-held ionization sources for mass spectrometry. Anal Bioanal Chem 416, 2057–2063 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-023-05022-w

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