An ITP separation of eight lanthanides on a serpentine PMMA microchip with a tee junction and a 230-mm-long serpentine channel is described. The cover of the PMMA chip is 175 μm thick so that a C(4) D in microchip mode can be used to detect the lanthanides as they migrate through the microchannel. Acetate and α-hydroxyisobutyric acid are used as complexing agents to increase the electrophoretic mobility difference between the lanthanides. Eight lanthanides are concentrated within ∼ 6 min by ITP in the microchip using 10 mM ammonium acetate at pH 4.5 as the leading electrolyte and 10 mM acetic acid at ∼ pH 3.0 as the terminating electrolyte. In addition, a 2D numerical simulation of the lanthanides undergoing ITP in the microchip is compared with experimental results using COMSOL Multiphysics v4.3a.
Keywords: 2D simulation; COMSOL Multiphysics; ITP; Lanthanides separation; Micro- fluidics.
© 2013 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.