Principles and applications of solid-substrate electrospray ionization mass spectrometry

Abstract

Direct analysis of raw samples is one of the important trends for mass spectrometry. Solid-substrate electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (solid-substrate ESI-MS) uses solid substrates (e.g., metal materials, porous materials) for sample loading and ionization, allows direct analysis of various forms of samples (e.g., liquid samples, viscous samples, solid samples and biological tissue), and shows analytical features that are different from conventional capillary-based ESI-MS. In recent years, solid-substrate ESI-MS has attracted more and more attention, and has been widely applied for direct sample analysis in biological, chemical, pharmaceutical and food studies. In this review, the principles and applications of typical solid-substrate ESI-MS techniques were highlighted, and the roles of solid substrates and solvents as well as the future development of solid-substrate ESI-MS were discussed.