Abstract
Ambient ionisation mass spectrometry (AIMS) enables studying biological systems in their native state and direct high-throughput analyses. The ionisation occurs in the physical conditions of the surrounding environment. Simple spray or plasma-based AIMS devices allow the desorption and ionisation of molecules from solid, liquid and gaseous samples. 3D printing helps to implement new ideas and concepts in AIMS quickly. Here, we present examples of 3D printed AIMS sources and devices for ion transfer and manipulation. Further, we show the use of 3D printer parts for building custom AIMS sampling robots and imaging systems. Using 3D printing technology allows upgrading existing mass spectrometers with relatively low cost and effort.
Highlights
Mass spectrometry (MS) is a central method in analytical chemistry because it can analyse complex mixtures of molecules with high sensitivity and selectivity
Grajewski et al [20] provides an excellent review on 3D printing techniques and materials used for mass spectrometry applications [20], and our group published a minireview about the emerging role of 3D printing in ion mobility spectrometry and mass spectrometry [18]
We will focus on applications of 3D printing that are directly related to ambient ionisation mass spectrometry (AIMS)
Summary
Mass spectrometry (MS) is a central method in analytical chemistry because it can analyse complex mixtures of molecules with high sensitivity and selectivity. Thermal desorption or energy-sudden activation, and the ionization mode is defined by the coupled ion source [4] Despite their simplicity, AIMS methods can drastically expand the range of detectable molecules, e.g., for measuring highly hydrophobic compounds [8] and to detect semivolatile and volatile metabolites from biological tissues [9]. AIMS techniques are not limited to compounds in gas phase, but combine desorption and ionisation processes, and are suitable for solid, liquid and gaseous substances [4]. Terms such as ‘ambient desorption/ionisation’ or ‘ambient sampling/ionisation’ would be more precise, but the short ‘ambient ionisation’ MS has been adopted by the MS community for these methods. We present examples of using 3D printing for creating AIMS systems, highlighting its tremendous potential in analytical chemistry
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