Miniaturized capillary electrophoresis system with contactless conductivity detection and flow injection sample introduction

A miniaturized capillary electrophoresis (CE) system with contactless conductivity detection (CCD) and flow injection (FI) sample introduction was developed. It represents an ideal combination of high-resolution separation of CE with high throughput reproducible sample injection of FI, and universal and robust detection of CCD for the analysis of ionic species. Its design and fabrication method is described in detail. Performance tests of the system were performed for the analysis of surface water. It was found that complete separation of the cations studied (NH4+, K+, Ca2+, Na+, and Mg2+) could be obtained within 60 see with peak height RSD better than(.)2.0%, thus achieving a sampling frequency of 60 hr(-1). Detection limits were in the order of low micro molarity.