A stroboscopic image of a jet of droplets generated by AMUSE at a rate of more than a million droplets per second. An ability to produce very fine (only a few micrometers in diameter) charged droplets is critical to efficient mass spectrometric analysis.
A group of researchers from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, have devised a possible alternative to conventional electrospray ionization (ESI) technology for protein analysis. Headed by Andrei Fedorov, AMUSE or Arrayed Micromachined Ultra Sonic Electrospray, differentiates itself from typical ESI by allowing the sample aerosolization and protein charging processes to be separated, allowing this platform to be operated at low voltages with a wide range of solvents.
Additionally, it carries a nanoscale ion source, which according to Georgia Tech, drastically lowers the required sample size by improving sample use. “The device has the potential to completely change the landscape of this field,” says Fedorov. Further details of AMUSE can be found in Applied Physics Letters.
Georgia Institute of Technology
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