Chip Electrophoresis
Capillary electrophoresis is a separation technique that has been very successful in the analysis of DNA fragments and other biomolecules.
In capillary electrophoresis, small amounts of fluids are injected into a separation channel by using plug injection. Substances are separated based on their electrophoretic mobility, which is proportional to their charge to size ratio.
Fast separation by CE
Advantages
Capillary electrophoresis with microfluidic chips offers advantages over traditional CE. Having an integrated injection structure enables injection of much smaller volumes than would be possible in standard CE. This means the separation channels can be very short (a few centimeters) for certain applications, which results in much faster analysis. An additional advantage of using chips is that the detection can be integrated in the chip.