Comparative study of cylindrical and parallel‐plate electrophoretic separations for the removal of ions and sub‐23 nm particles

• Published in: Journal of separation science 2017-12, Vol.40 (24), p.4813-4824
• Main Authors: Yu, Tongzhu, Yang, Yixin, Liu, Jianguo, Gui, Huaqiao, Zhang, Jiaoshi, Cheng, Yin, Wang, Wenyu, Du, Peng, Wang, Jie, Wang, Huanqin
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: collection efficiency; electrophoretic separation; particle loss
• ISSN: 1615-9306; 1615-9314
• DOI: 10.1002/jssc.201700750

Cylindrical and parallel‐plate electrophoretic separations for the removal of ions and sub‐23 nm particles were compared in this study. First, COMSOL Multiphysics® software was utilized to simulate the ion and particle trajectories inside both electrophoretic separations. The results show that ions and sub‐23 nm particles are removed simultaneously and that all particles can pass through both electrophoretic separations smoothly at a trap voltage of 25 V. The experimental results show that ion losses become smaller with increasing ion flow rates, and ion losses of the cylindrical and parallel‐plate electrophoretic separations range from 56.2 to 71.6% and from 43.8 to 59.6%, respectively, at ion flow rates ranging from 1–3 L/min. For the removal of ions and sub‐23 nm particles, the collection efficiency of both electrophoretic separations can reach 100%, but the parallel‐plate electrophoretic separation requires a lower trap voltage. The particle loss of the parallel‐plate electrophoretic separation is under approximately 10%, which is lower than that of the cylindrical electrophoretic separation. In particular, for large particles (800–2500 nm), the particle losses inside the cylindrical electrophoretic separation are approximately two times higher than those inside the parallel‐plate electrophoretic separation. The parallel‐plate electrophoretic separation is beneficial for the removal of ions and sub‐23 nm particles.