Development of a pulsed atmospheric pressure ion source

This thesis describes the development of a high-performance Pulsed High-Voltage Atmospheric Pressure Ion Source for coupling a mass spectrometry system with an HPLC system. This novelty of the design resides in a modified electrospray system, which in addition to its normal DC operation, provides high-voltage of up to 30kV on the capillary by introducing high-voltage pulsing, the Pulsed High-Voltage API is predicted to allow a higher liquid throughput and a reduction in background contamination while maintaining an efficient ionization of the molecules under investigation. The Pulsed High-Voltage API is expected to have possible gains in sensitivity, versatility, and reliability of operation