Ultra-Micro-Thermal Field-Flow Fractionation

Abstract

Micro-thermal field-flow fractionation, proposed conceptually and implemented experimentally several years ago, has developed rapidly in terms of theory, instrumentation, and numerous applications for the analysis and characterization of polymers and particles of synthetic, natural, and biological origin. Although the advances have been important, achieving the ultimate limits of miniaturization imposed by the physics as well as by recent technologies represents a challenge that was explored. The result of the reported experimental study is a new separation channel for ultra-micro-thermal field-flow fractionation, which was compared, in terms of performance, with the existing compact micro-thermal field-flow fractionation unit. The limits of the miniaturization are experimentally demonstrated with the use of suspensions of colloidal particles, which represent a more difficult case of separation than polymers in solution.