Analyte Capture from Liquid Samples: Size Matters

M. Weber[1], M. Reed[1]
[1]Yale University, New Haven, CT, USA
Published in 2013

Arrays of vertical pillars, Micro Purification Chips, have been widely used for analyte capture from liquid samples [Henderson et. al, 2006], [Toner et. al, 2007], [Stern et. al, 2010]. However exact understanding of the capture efficiency mechanisms has not been previously explained.

Here we present a model in COMSOL Multiphysics® which calculates analyte capture efficiency based on initial conditions: pillar size and density, flow rate and analyte binding kinetics. The model uses the Chemical Reaction Engineering Module, convection and diffusion and the Navier-Stokes equation to solve the time-dependant analyte concentration.

Here we report that depending on the choice of pillar size and density the analyte capture efficiency can vary from 10% to more than 99.999%.