When Mass Spectrometry Meets Nanoparticles. Weighing, Manipulating and Fragmenting Single Nanoparticles in The Gas Phase

A new mass spectrometer based on charge detection has been developed. It enables the determination of mass distribution of various macromolecules and nanoparticles. By using an ion trap coupled to a CO2 laser, photoinduced dissociation of such macroions can be studied at the single ion level giving uniquely access to intrinsic features such as fragmentation patterns and unimolecular dissociation activation energy