Comparison of Retention Behavior of Various Polystyrene Latex Particles and Gold Colloids on Different Channel Walls in Flow Field-Flow Fractionation.

Flow field-flow fractionation (FlFFF) is a high-resolution technique for separating and characterizing particulate materials into well-defined particle fractions by size in the approximate diameter range 1–100 µm. Retention of the sample particle is affected by the property of the accumulation wall, which is composed of a polymer membrane. In this work, retention behavior of three polystyrene latex spheres (having diameters of 50, 105, and 152 nm), high and low charged synthetic polymeric particles (having diameters of 115 and 180 nm), and 5, 10, 20 nm-sized gold colloid standards are studied on two different types of membranes; a hydrophilic regenerated cellulose membrane and a hydrophobic polysulfone membrane. Both membranes have the same molecular weight cutoff of 10 kDa. Retention was measured for each sample at various pH and ionic strength of the carrier liquid. Several kinds of surfactants were also tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]