Improved separation of micro gas chromatographic column using mesoporous silica as a stationary phase support

In this paper, a novel and facile way to improve the separation of micro gas chromatographic column is presented which utilizes the mesoporous silica thin film as the stationary phase support. A serpentine semi-packed column is fabricated based on a micro-electro-mechanical system (MEMS) technology and polydimethylsiloxane is used as the stationary phase. The chromatographic resolution of C6-C7 increases from unseparated to 7.44 after depositing mesoporous silica thin film as the stationary phase support in the separation of a mixture of heavy hydrocarbons (C6-C10), and the separation efficiency is as high as 9290 plates/m. Meanwhile, in the separation of a mixture of benzene series (gas mixtures of benzene, toluene and paraxylene), the chromatographic resolution of benzene and toluene can also be increased by 483%. Those outstanding results indicate that using the mesoporous silica as the stationary phase support is an effective way to improve the separation efficiency of the gas chromatographic column.