Past, current, and future roles of 3D printing in the development of capillary electrophoresis systems

Trends Analyt Chem. 2023 May:162:117032. doi: 10.1016/j.trac.2023.117032. Epub 2023 Mar 22.

Abstract

3D printing, an additive manufacturing technology, has made significant inroads into improving systems for bioanalysis in recent years. This approach is particularly powerful due to the ease and flexibility in rapidly creating novel and complex designs for analytical applications. As such, 3D printing offers an emerging technology for creating systems for electrophoretic analysis. Here, we review 3D printing work on improving and miniaturizing capillary electrophoresis (CE), emphasizing publications from 2019‒2022. We describe enabling uses of 3D printing in interfacing upstream sample preparation or downstream detection with CE. Recent developments in miniaturized CE enabled by 3D printing are also elaborated, including key areas where 3D printing could further improve over the current state-of-the-art. Lastly, we highlight promising future trends for using 3D printing in miniaturizing CE and the significant potential for innovative advancements. 3D printing is poised to play a key role in moving forward miniaturized CE in the coming years.