High Performance Micro Gas Chromatography Column Using Mesoporous Silica as Stationary Phase

A semi-packed micro gas chromatography (μGC) column embedded micro-elliptical pillars was fabricated based on micro- electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technique. The mesoporous silica (MS) film with 2-nm pore size and large specific surface area was coated on the inner surface of the μGC column as stationary phase. A baseline separation of alkanes (C5–C10) was realized by the μGC column which used MS as stationary phase, and the resolution of pentane and solvent (impurity) was as large as 3.6. Compared with the μGC column which used polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) as stationary phase under the same injection volume, the number of theoretical plates of octane had a 46% increase and reached up to 14458 plates. Meanwhile, the peak area of nonane was increased by 349.8%.