The electric field – An emerging driver in sample preparation

Abstract

An electric field can be combined with established sample preparation techniques or used as the sole driving force for sample preparation. The electric field is generally used for analyte extraction or sample purification, and in both cases this results in acceleration of the mass transfer of analytes or impurities from the sample into the acceptor phase. The sample and acceptor phases may be either in direct contact or separated by a liquid or solid membrane. This review introduces and highlights the advancements in electric field-assisted sample preparation from 2013–2015. The main sections are membrane and membrane-free approaches, including their application in the classical and microfluidic scale. The included membrane approaches are electrodialysis/ion concentration polarisation, three-phase liquid electroextraction, and electromembrane extraction. The membrane-free techniques are electric field-assisted solid-phase (micro)extraction, electrofiltration, electrophoretic concentration, and dielectrophoresis. There were 67 research articles covered and thus this is considered as an active area in analytical chemistry.