Microfluidic devices provide ideal environments for small-scale, versatile processing and sample separations. Microfluidics also serve as a rapid, low-cost alternative to traditional lab-scale efforts. Previous efforts have demonstrated the applicability of a microfluidic chip used for the electrophoretic separation of 14 rare earth elements from a homogenous sample. This technique – isotachophoresis – relies on a two-buffer system that allows target species to stack at maximum concentrations between the two buffers. Coupling of the micro-scale system to downstream detection instrumentation, such as inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) has been used to optimize the separation by using commercial off-the-shelf products to provide an interface that allows for immediate injection of the stacked sample on the fabricated chip into the ICP-MS, where the elemental composition of the sample is analyzed. The successful demonstration of isotachophoretic separation of the lanthanides on the chip has led to upscaling to a bench scale platform that allows for higher sample throughput and higher concentrations of analytes. Results presented will highlight the effectiveness of the up-scaled system.

Isotachophoretic separation and characterization of f-block elements

Fall 2022 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch in mid-September.

ACS Fall 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.