Quantitative approach to field-flow fractionation for the characterization of supermicron particles

✍ Scribed by Pierluigi Reschiglian; Dora MeLucci; Andrea Zattoni; Giancarlo Torsi

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1997
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 188 KB
• Volume: 9
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 1040-7685
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1520-667x(1997)9:7<545::aid-mcs4>3.0.co;2-1

✦ Synopsis

Field-flow fractionation is a separation technique for macromolecular species; over more than 2 decades, it has been studied mostly for enhancing its separation capabilities in terms of wider applicability, improved selectivity, and reduced analysis time. Most of the efforts have been focused on qualitative aspects of fractionation, while the quantitative aspects have been scarcely exploited. However, a quantitative approach to field-flow fractionation is an unavoidable task in the framework of a general optimization of this technique, particularly when preparative applications are sought. In this work, an overview of quantitative aspects of gravitational field-flow fractionation for the analysis of supermicron particles is presented. In particular, a derivation of the Lambert᎐Beer law for flow-through measurements is applied to real-time conversion of the detector signal response into sample mass or concentration. In the proposed approach, particle size distribution curves are numerically related to sample mass and to the level of sample recovery derived together from a single fractionation.