Hybrid integrated PDMS microfluidics with a silica capillary (original) (raw)

To harness the properties of both PDMS and silica, we developed a novel module for effective hybrid integration of PDMS microfluidic devices and fused silica capillaries. The hybrid integrated PDMS microfluidics and Silica Capillary (iPSC) modules exhibit a novel architecture and method for leakage free CE sample injection merely requiring a single high voltage source and one pair of electrodes. The use of the iPSC devices is based on a modular approach which allows the capillary 10 to be reused over 1,000 times whilst replacing the attached fluidic module for different experiments. Integrating fused silica capillaries with PDMS microfluidic modules allow the direct application of a wide variety of well established conventional CE protocols for separations of complex analytes. Furthermore it bears the potential for facile coupling to standard electro-spray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS), letting users focus on the sample analysis rather than the 15 development of new separation protocols. The fabrication of the iPSC module consists of a simple and quick three-step method that submerges a fused silica capillary in PDMS prepolymer. After cross linking the prepolymer and punching the inlets, the iPSC module layer can be mounted onto a microfluidic device for CE separation.