Study of Photocatalytic Nano-Particle Effects on the Low Temperature Plasma Ionization Mass Spectrometry

Although the low temperature plasma mass spectrometry (LTP-MS) is widely used as an analysis tool for many biochemical samples, its application window is somehow limited to the analytes of low molecular mass and high volatility. For this reason, there have been attempts to enhance the ionization/desorption efficiencies with extra heating, for instance. In this study, another enhancement method was suggested using the photocatalytic nano-particles (NPs). In order to assess the NP effects on the LTP-MS, two fatty acid ethyl ester samples of ethyl myristate and ethyl palmitate were used, and the NP of titanium dioxide (TiO2) was mainly employed. The results showed that the signal intensities of the LTP-MS were largely increased with the TiO2 addition for both samples. In addition, the cholesterol sample was analyzed using the TiO2 assisted LTP-MS, also resulting in the enhancement of the signal intensity. The overall results inferred that the photocatalytic NP confirmed its role as an effective assist tool for the LTP-MS, especially suitable because of the facile method and the heat-free nature.