Real-Time Simultaneous Separation and Detection of Chemicals Using Integrated Microcolumn and Surface Plasmon Resonance Imaging Micro-GC

An integrated and miniaturized micro-gas chromatography (GC) with real-time imaging capability for simultaneous chemical separation and detection was developed. Surface plasmon resonance imaging (SPRi) was used as a sensitive and real-time imaging-based detector for various gaseous chemical mixtures, and good gas chromatographs were obtained. The system integrated a home-made miniaturized molecular sieve packed spiral microchannel column with the SPRi chip and real-time chemical separation and detection were demonstrated using alkanes. The chemical separation processes were simulated using COMSOL and matched well with the experimental results. The system enabled the study of chemical separation processes in real-time by miniaturizing and integrating the micro-GC separation and detection units. This approach can be expanded to multidimensional GC development.