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Zhou MD, Akbar M, Myrick AJ, Xia Y, Khan WJ, Gao X, Baker TC, Zheng SY. Chopper-modulated gas chromatography electroantennography enabled using high-temperature MEMS flow control device. MICROSYSTEMS & NANOENGINEERING 2017; 3:17062. [PMID: 31057886 PMCID: PMC6444993 DOI: 10.1038/micronano.2017.62] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/24/2017] [Revised: 07/07/2017] [Accepted: 07/26/2017] [Indexed: 06/09/2023]
Abstract
We report the design, fabrication and characterization of a microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) flow control device for gas chromatography (GC) with the capability of sustaining high-temperature environments. We further demonstrate the use of this new device in a novel MEMS chopper-modulated gas chromatography-electroantennography (MEMS-GC-EAG) system to identify specific volatile organic compounds (VOCs) at extremely low concentrations. The device integrates four pneumatically actuated microvalves constructed via thermocompression bonding of the polyimide membrane between two glass substrates with microstructures. The overall size of the device is 32 mm×32 mm, and it is packaged in a 50 mm×50 mm aluminum housing that provides access to the fluidic connections and allows thermal control. The characterization reveals that each microvalve in the flow control chip provides an ON to OFF ratio as high as 1000:1. The device can operate reliably for more than 1 million switching cycles at a working temperature of 300 °C. Using the MEMS-GC-EAG system, we demonstrate the successful detection of cis-11-hexadecenal with a concentration as low as 1 pg at a demodulation frequency of 2 Hz by using an antenna harvested from the male Helicoverpa Virescens moth. In addition, 1 μg of a green leafy volatile (GLV) is barely detected using the conventional GC-EAG, while MEMS-GC-EAG can readily detect the same amount of GLV, with an improvement in the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) of ~22 times. We expect that the flow control device presented in this report will allow researchers to explore new applications and make new discoveries in entomology and other fields that require high-temperature flow control at the microscale.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ming-Da Zhou
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Muhammad Akbar
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Andrew J. Myrick
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Yiqiu Xia
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Waleed J. Khan
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Xiang Gao
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Thomas C. Baker
- Department of Entomology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Si-Yang Zheng
- Micro & Nano Integrated Biosystem (MINIBio) Laboratory, Department of Biomedical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Materials Research Institute, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Electrical Engineering, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
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Yuan H, Du X, Tai H, Xu M. Temperature-programmed multicapillary gas chromatograph microcolumn for the analysis of odorous sulfur pollutants. J Sep Sci 2017; 41:893-898. [PMID: 29178245 DOI: 10.1002/jssc.201700792] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/19/2017] [Revised: 11/16/2017] [Accepted: 11/17/2017] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
We report the fabrication and performance of a silicon-on-glass micro gas chromatography eight-capillary column based on microelectromechanical systems technology that is 50 cm long, 30 μm wide, and 300 μm deep. According to the theory of a gas chromatography column, an even gas flow among different capillaries play a vital role in the peak broadening. Thus, a flow splitter structure is designed by the finite element method through the comparison of the velocity distributions of the eight-capillary columns with and without splitter as well as an open tubular column. The simulation results reveal that eight-capillary column with flow splitters can receive more uniform flow velocity in different capillaries, hence decreases the peak broadening and in turn increases the separation efficiency. The separation experiment results show that the separation efficiency of about 22 000 plates/m is achieved with the chip column temperature programmed for analysis of odorous sulfur pollutants. This figure is nearly two times higher than that of the commercial capillary column coated the similar stationary phase. And the separation time of all the components in the microcolumn is less than 3.8 min, which is faster than the commercial capillary column.
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China.,Key Laboratory of Information Materials of Sichuan Province, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, China
| | - Xiaosong Du
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Huiling Tai
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices, University of Electronic Science and Technology of China, Chengdu, China
| | - Ming Xu
- Key Laboratory of Information Materials of Sichuan Province, School of Electrical and Information Engineering, Southwest University for Nationalities, Chengdu, China
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Yuan H, Du X, Tai H, Yang X, Xu M. MEMS-based column coated with reduced graphene oxide as stationary phase for gas chromatography. RSC Adv 2017. [DOI: 10.1039/c7ra03271d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022] Open
Abstract
Schematic diagram of single-layer stationary phase film (a) and two-step stationary phase film (b).
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Affiliation(s)
- Huan Yuan
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Chengdu 610054
- China
| | - Xiaosong Du
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Chengdu 610054
- China
| | - Huiling Tai
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Chengdu 610054
- China
| | - Xiao Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Electronic Thin Films and Integrated Devices
- University of Electronic Science and Technology of China
- Chengdu 610054
- China
| | - Ming Xu
- Key Laboratory of Information Materials of Sichuan Province
- School of Electrical and Information Engineering
- Southwest University for Nationalities
- Chengdu 610041
- China
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