Issue 11, 2009

An array of ordered pillars with retentive properties for pressure-driven liquid chromatography fabricated directly from an unmodified cyclo olefinpolymer

Abstract

The current paper describes the development and characterization of a pillar array chip that is constructed out of a sandwich of cyclo olefin polymer (COP) sheets. The silicon master of a 5 cm long pillar array was embossed into the COP, yielding 4.3 µm deep pillars of 15.3 µm diameter with an external porosity of 43 % and a well designed sidewall region to avoid side wall induced band broadening. A closed channel configuration was obtained by pressure assisted thermal bonding to a non-processed COP lid. Injection of coumarin dye plugs and detection with a fluorescence microscope showed very close agreement of this channel configuration to theoretical expectations in terms of band broadening. This agreement is due to the low taper, the optimized sidewall region and the excellent bonding quality between the two polymer sheets, even at the pillar area. Under non-retained conditions (pure methanol as mobile phase), plate heights as low as 4 µm were obtained. Under retained conditions, using the native hydrophobic properties of the COP channel (in 70/30 v/v water/methanol mixture as mobile phase), a minimum plate height of 6 µm was obtained. A 4 component separation was successfully achieved, demonstrating that COP is a cheap and efficient alternative for silicon and silica based liquid chromatography formats.

Graphical abstract: An array of ordered pillars with retentive properties for pressure-driven liquid chromatography fabricated directly from an unmodified cyclo olefin polymer

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
24 Oct 2008
Accepted
02 Feb 2009
First published
23 Feb 2009

Lab Chip, 2009,9, 1511-1516

An array of ordered pillars with retentive properties for pressure-driven liquid chromatography fabricated directly from an unmodified cyclo olefin polymer

X. Illa, W. De Malsche, J. Bomer, H. Gardeniers, J. Eijkel, J. R. Morante, A. Romano-Rodríguez and G. Desmet, Lab Chip, 2009, 9, 1511 DOI: 10.1039/B818918H

To request permission to reproduce material from this article, please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

If you are an author contributing to an RSC publication, you do not need to request permission provided correct acknowledgement is given.

If you are the author of this article, you do not need to request permission to reproduce figures and diagrams provided correct acknowledgement is given. If you want to reproduce the whole article in a third-party publication (excluding your thesis/dissertation for which permission is not required) please go to the Copyright Clearance Center request page.

Read more about how to correctly acknowledge RSC content.

Social activity

Spotlight

Advertisements