Lab-on-a-chip Capillary Electrophoresis

We are constructing a variety of microfluidic devices for labs on a chip . We use some of the same processes developed for the fabrication of ARROW waveguides. Electroosmotic Flow (EOF) pumps are shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1 - SEM images of EOF pump features. (a) Cross-sectional view of a 5-?m EOF channel. (b) Cross-sectional view of a 50 ?m flow channel. (c) Top view of the pump channels interfaced with the flow channel.

Figure 2 - Thin-film sacrificially formed microdevices for CE analysis. (Top) SEM images of microchannels; scale bar is 20 ?m. (Bottom) Electropherogram of three FITC-labeled peptides separated at 830 V/cm in a planar thin-film microfluidic channel treated with UltraTrol Dynamic Precoat HR. Peaks are: (1) FLEEI, (2) Leu enkephalin, and(3) GGYR.

Figure 2 shows channels capable of electrophoretic separations. These structures require T-junctions and interfaces with macroscopic fluid reservoirs. So far, amino acids and peptides have been separated in these channels with results shown in Figure 2 for a peptide separation. Channels with different cross-sectional geometries were also created, including rectangular and arch shapes. This work was done in collaboration with Profs. Milton Lee and Adam Woolley in BYU's Chemistry Department