The influence of polydopamine coating on gold nanorods for laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometric analysis

This paper examines the effect of polydopamine (PD) coating of gold nanorods (GNRs) on their performance as a matrix material for laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LDI-TOF-MS) analysis. Bare GNRs and PD-coated GNRs (PD@GNRs) were utilized for LDI-TOF-MS analyses of small molecules and synthetic polymers, and the influences of PD-coating were mechanistically studied. Based on the results, we found that the PD-coating of GNRs suppressed the generation of undesired gold cluster ions, enhanced photothermal conversion and the LDI-TOF-MS efficiency, and expanded the working molecular weight range.