Boosting the Detection Potential of Liquid Chromatography-Electron Ionization Mass Spectrometry Using a Ceramic Coated Ion Source

Detection of target and non-target substances and their characterization in complex samples is a challenging task. Here we demonstrate that coating the electron ionization (EI) ion source of an LC-MS system with a sol-gel ceramic film can drastically improve the detection of high-molecular weight and high-boiling analytes. A new ion source coated with a ceramic material was developed and tested with a mixture of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) with an increasing number of rings. Comparison of the results obtained with those for an uncoated stainless steel (SS) ion source shows a dramatic improvement in the MS signals, with a nearly 40-fold increase of the signal-to-noise ratio. We also demonstrate the ability of the new system to produce excellent chromatographic profiles for hard-to-detect hormones.