title: Free flow isotachophoresis in an injection moulded miniaturised separation chamber with integrated electrodes.
abstract: An injection moulded free flow isotachophoresis (FFITP) microdevice with integrated carbon fibre loaded electrodes with a separation chamber of 36.4mm wide, 28.7 mm long and 100 microm deep is presented. The microdevice was completely fabricated by injection moulding in carbon fibre loaded polystyrene for the electrodes and crystal polystyrene for the remainder of the chip and was bonded together using ultrasonic welding. Two injection moulded electrode designs were compared, one with the electrode surface level with the separation chamber and one with a recessed electrode. Separations of two anionic dyes, 0.2mM each of amaranth and acid green and separations of 0.2mM each of amaranth, bromophenol blue and glutamate were performed on the microdevice. Flow rates of 1.25 ml min(-1) for the leading and terminating electrolytes were used and a flow rate of 0.63 ml min(-1) for the sample. Electric fields of up to 370 V cm(-1) were applied across the separation chamber. Joule heating was not found to be significant although out-gassing was observed at drive currents greater than 3 mA.
authors.affiliation: School of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, The University of Manchester, PO Box 88, Manchester M60 1QD, UK.
authors.forename: Victoria N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Stone
authors.forename: Sara J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Baldock
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Croasdell
authors.forename: Leonard A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Dillon
authors.forename: Peter R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Fielden
authors.forename: Nick J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Goddard
authors.forename: C L Paul
authors.initials: CL
authors.lastname: Thomas
authors.forename: Bernard J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Treves Brown
mesh_terms: D004566:Electrodes; D004586:Electrophoresis / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods; D008904:Miniaturization