Study of an electroosmotic pump for liquid delivery and its application in capillary column liquid chromatography

J Chromatogr A. 2004 Mar 5;1028(2):219-26. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2003.11.071.

Abstract

A packed-bed electroosmotic pump (EOP) was constructed and evaluated. The EOP consisted of three capillary columns packed in parallel, a gas-releasing device, Pt electrodes and a high-voltage power supply. The EOP could generate output pressure above 5.0 MPa and constant flow rate in the range of nl/min to a few microl/min for pure water, pure methanol, 2 mM potassium dihydrogenphosphate buffer, the buffer-methanol mixture and the pure water-methanol mixture at applied potentials less than 20 kV. The composition of solvent before/after pumping was quantitatively determined by using a gas chromatograph equipped with both flame ionization detector and thermal conductivity detector. It was found that there were no apparent changes in composition and relative concentrations after pumping process for a methanol-ethanol-acetonitrile mixture and a methanol-water mixture. Theoretical aspect of the EOP was discussed in detail. An capillary HPLC system consisting of the EOP, an injection valve, a 15 cm x 320 microm i.d., 5 microm Spherigel C18 stainless steel analytical column, and an on-column UV detector was connected to evaluate the performance of the EOP. A comparative study was also carried out with a mechanical capillary HPLC pump on the same system. The results demonstrated that the reproducibility of flow rate and the pulsation-free flow property of the EOP are superior to that of mechanical pump in capillary HPLC application.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Acetonitriles
  • Algorithms
  • Buffers
  • Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / instrumentation*
  • Electrophoresis, Capillary / instrumentation*
  • Methanol
  • Osmosis
  • Pressure
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Solutions
  • Water

Substances

  • Acetonitriles
  • Buffers
  • Solutions
  • Water
  • Methanol