A microfabricated electrical SPLITT system

Abstract

A growing need for methods to analyze and prepare monodisperse nanoparticles on an industrial scale exists and may be solved by the application of split flow thin fractionation (SPLITT) at the microscale. Microfluidic systems of this type have the ability to separate nanoparticles with high precision in a continuous manner. A miniaturized SPLITT system can be fabricated using standard microfabrication technologies, works in a continuous mode, and can be used as a sample preparation instrument in a micro-total-analysis-system (μ-TAS). In this paper, a miniaturized electrical SPLITT system, which separates particles continuously based on electrophoretic mobility, has been characterized. The advantages of miniaturization have been elucidated. The various aspects of the micro SPLITT system discussed in this paper can be broadly classified into: micro SPLITT system design, fluidics modeling to refine the splitter arrangements, and experimental characterization of the SPLITT system. The design of the micro SPLITT system has been elucidated focusing on the two designs that were implemented. Fluid modeling, used to arrive at a new SPLITT design, was done using a commercially available CFD package to investigate behavior of the fluid in the microchannel with various splitter arrangements. Testing was done with nanoparticles of varying diameter and electrophoretic mobilities to verify the modeling results and demonstrate functionality of the SPLITT system. Particles eluted from both outlets of the SPLITT system were characterized using AFM and SEM to verify the function of the system.