Microfab-less microfluidic capillary electrophoresis devices

Abstract

Compared to conventional bench-top instruments, microfluidic devices possess advantageous characteristics including great portability potential, reduced analysis time (minutes), and relatively inexpensive production, putting them on the forefront of modern analytical chemistry. Fabrication of these devices, however, often involves polymeric materials with less-than-ideal surface properties, specific instrumentation, and cumbersome fabrication procedures. In order to overcome such drawbacks, a new hybrid platform is proposed. The platform is centered on the use of 5 interconnecting microfluidic components that serve as the injector or reservoirs. These plastic units are interconnected using standard capillary tubing, enabling in-channel detection by a wide variety of standard techniques, including capacitively-coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D). Due to the minimum impact on the separation efficiency, the plastic microfluidic components used for the experiments discussed herein were fabricated using an inexpensive engraving tool and standard Plexiglas. The presented approach (named 52-platform) offers a previously unseen versatility: enabling the assembly of the platform within minutes using capillary tubing that differs in length, diameter, or material. The advantages of the proposed design are demonstrated by performing the analysis of inorganic cations by capillary electrophoresis on soil samples from the Atacama Desert.

Fast and versatile fabrication of PMMA microchip electrophoretic devices by laser engraving

“…Among those devices designed for custom analytical and bioanalytical applications, microchip electrophoresis (ME) devices are some of the most important ones [6][7][8]. A variety of strategies have been employed in the production of devices for ME ranging from standard photolithography [9] to rapid prototyping [10][11][12] and assembly [13]. Although photolithographic techniques have been traditionally used to produce high-end devices using silica-based substrates, the process can be time-consuming and render chips that are (often) too expensive for most research laboratories.…”

Determination of topiramate by capillary electrophoresis with capacitively‐coupled contactless conductivity detection: A powerful tool for therapeutic monitoring in epileptic patients

“…The method presents a simpler alternative to the traditional analysis performed by GC or HPLC with competitive analysis times and performance and voiding the need to utilize MS. Moreover, as a difference with respect to GC or HPLC, the experimental conditions optimized for CE can be translated into miniaturized platforms further reducing the cost and facilitating the adoption of the technology. In summary, this report provides evidence that the combination of CE and contactless conductivity detection offers a simple and low‐cost solution for the analysis of TPM in plasma samples, than can be adopted in clinical settings.…”

Recent advances in low‐cost microfluidic platforms for diagnostic applications

“…Segato et al. interconnected PMMA microfluidic devices to assemble a capillary electrophoresis system with capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detection (C4D) . This modular fabrication method was demonstrated to be easy, fast, versatile, and inexpensive.…”