Simultaneous separation and electroanalysis in a single polydimethylsiloxane-based platform

Channel-based microfluidic devices integrating the separation step and detection system are key factors to expand microanalysis application. However, these devices still depend on macroscale external equipment for pre-treatment of the sample, separation, or detection. The integration of all steps in only one stage is critical to improving feasibility. Herein, we use a low-cost protocol to solve part of the challenge by designing a dual-mode system onto single polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-based platform — overall dimensions of 65 mm length × 20 mm width × 14 mm height and the inner diameter of 297±10 μm height × 605±19 μm width — for column-free separation and simultaneous detection. As a proof-of-concept, we used this all-in-one PDMS platform to separate — without the packet-based phase — and determine salicylic acid (SA) and caffeine (CAF) with a detection limit of 0.20 and 0.18 μmol L−1 and quantification limit of 0.70 and 0.60 μmol L−1 for SA and CAF, respectively. We separated the mixture using forced convection into a chemically treated microchannel while detecting the analytes in amperometric mode. Here, we report new insights into how integrating analytes separation and further electroanalysis into a single miniaturized device.