Patent ID: 8242441

Claim:
An electrospray ion source for a mass spectrometer comprising: a source of an analyte-bearing liquid; a source of a sheath gas; a plurality of liquid conduits, each liquid conduit configured so as to receive a portion of the analyte-bearing liquid from the source of analyte-bearing liquid; at least one electrode for producing electrospray emission of charged droplets from an outlet of each of said liquid conduits under application of an electrical potential to the at least one electrode; a power supply electrically coupled to the at least one electrode for maintaining the at least one electrode at the electrical potential; and a plurality of sheath gas conduits, each sheath gas conduit comprising: an inlet configured to receive a sheath gas portion from the source of sheath gas; and an outlet configured to emit a sheath gas flow that circumferentially surrounds, in at least two dimensions, a portion of the charged droplets emitted from a respective one of the liquid conduit outlets.