Three different and recently developed desorption ionization techniques, transmission-mode desorption electrospray ionization (TM-DESI), low temperature plasma (LTP) ionization and nano-assisted laser desorption ionization (NALDI), are compared with electrospray ionization (ESI) and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) for the analysis of two nanofilm products (NFPs) for surface coating, which contain hydrolysates and condensates of organo-functionalized silanes. The NFPs were characterized in different states from the liquid phase to the fully formed surface film. The LTP spectra were dominated by the silanes, while the corresponding di-, tri- and tetrasiloxanes were common in ESI, APCI and TM-DESI. This indicates readily condensation of the silanes during the ESI and APCI ionization processes leading to the observed siloxanes. NALDI showed larger siloxane structures than the other techniques, indicating film formation on the NALDI target. Real-time monitoring of the film formation on a glass surface by LTP showed a decreasing abundance of the silanes, while the abundances of the di-, tri and tetrasiloxanes increased significantly within the first 100 s. LTP was superior in showing the non-reacted content of the NFPs, while ESI, APCI and TM-DESI were characterized by artefact formation of siloxanes. NALDI was ideal for showing the siloxane structures of the formed film. The applicabilities of each of the ionization techniques were examined, showing the advantage of utilizing more than one ionization technique for the analysis of reactive species.
Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.