Performance of laterally elongated pillar array columns in capillary electrochromatography mode

In the present study, cylindrical and laterally elongated pillar array columns were investigated for use in capillary electrochromatography. Minimal theoretical plate heights of H = 1.90 and 1.46 μm (in absence of sidewall effect) were obtained for coumarin C440 under unretained conditions for cylindrical and rectangular (laterally elongated, aspect ratio 4) pillar array columns, respectively. By comparing dispersion at the entire channel width to that at the central zone only, it appears that sidewall related dispersion significantly contributes to overall dispersion. A 40% reduction of the plate height was observed by taking into account only the central channel zone. A kinetic plot analysis was performed to evaluate the potential of the studied geometries by considering a maximum operating voltage of 20 kV as limiting parameter. It was demonstrated that rectangular radially elongated pillars produce a higher efficiency than cylindrical pillars and other microfabricated column structures for microchip capillary electrochromatography previously studied.