Patent ID: 8703502
Filing Date: 2014-04-22
Classification: H01J,Y10T

Abstract:
1. A method of ionizing an analyte in a sample material using an apparatus having an electrically-conductive capillary with an inlet and an outlet, the outlet being situated within a nebulizer tube having a respective inlet and outlet such that the outlet of the capillary is proximate the outlet of the nebulizer tube, said method comprising the steps of injecting a liquid-phase reagent that includes an electrochemically-oxidizable nonpolar or low-polarity solvent into the inlet of the capillary while holding the capillary at a high electrical voltage and while injecting a chemically-inert gas into the inlet of the nebulizer tube, thereby generating a spray of the reagent that includes molecular ions of the solvent, and directing the spray onto the sample material, thereby desorbing and ionizing the analyte, wherein the solvent becomes electrochemically oxidized at the capillary, thereby forming the molecular ions of the solvent.