Tubular and Planar Approaches to Separations (TAPAS)

在化学系化学测量与成像（CMI）项目的支持下，德克萨斯大学阿灵顿分校的Purnendu K. (Sandy) Dasgupta教授和他的学生们正在努力提高色谱仪系列重要仪器的性能和便携性。这些仪器广泛用于分离复杂混合物的成分，使分离的成分进一步分析。色谱的基础科学是至关重要的应用，如确保在半导体工业中使用的试剂的纯度；环境分析（包括监测经过长途运输无法到达实验室的活性污染物）；监测水消毒副产物；制造药品;监测食品安全。Dasgupta小组正在努力使这种仪器易于现场携带（小，轻，低功耗，低成本），而不影响其分离能力。目的是在医生办公室或病人床边等环境中进行现场测量；工业故障诊断;以及潜艇甚至国际空间站的水监测。通过让从初高中实习生到博士后的学生参与进来，达斯古普塔教授还解决了对训练有素的人使用这些技术的高需求。当他开发新的仪器和技术时，他正在将它们纳入实验室课程，并与仪器制造商合作商业化。Dasgupta小组正在使用在先前nsf资助的项目中开发的可模塑离子交换聚合物来制造离子传输驱动的非机械nL/min - uL/min泵和模塑微通道，以提供超微型抑制器和洗脱剂发生器。螺旋和2D/3D蛇形几何形状的开通道柱正在系统地研究其分离能力。这些柱子可以通过3D打印和近红外激光加工制造，使它们价格低廉，适合批量生产。该团队正在探索用于灵敏探测的直接光热和多反射吸收测量，以及减少色散的计算技术。最后，他们正在探索使用多孔管（其中径向流动由蒸发引起）和压力驱动的轴向流，在横向、时变电场的存在下，作为在高流速下实现微通道高分离效率特性的方法，从而减少柱外分散的要求。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

With support from the Chemical Measurement & Imaging (CMI) Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Purnendu K. (Sandy) Dasgupta and his students at the University of Texas at Arlington are working to improve the performance and portability of a family of important instruments known as chromatographs. These instruments are widely used for separating the constituents of complex mixtures, enabling further analysis of the separated components. The underlying science of chromatography is critical for applications such as assuring the purity of reagents used in the semiconductor industry; environmental analysis (including monitoring reactive pollutants that cannot survive a long trip to the lab); monitoring water disinfection byproducts; manufacturing pharmaceuticals; and monitoring food safety. The Dasgupta group is working to make such instruments easily field-portable (small, lightweight, low-power, and low-cost) without compromising their separation capabilities. The aim is on-site measurement in such contexts as a physician’s office or patient's bedside; industrial troubleshooting; and water-monitoring in submarines and even in the international space station. Through involvement of students ranging from junior- and senior-level high school interns through postdoctoral fellows, Professor Dasgupta is also addressing the high demand for people trained to use these techniques. As he develops new instruments and techniques, he is incorporating them into laboratory curricula and working with instrument-makers for commercialization.The Dasgupta group is using moldable ion-exchange polymers developed in the previous NSF-funded project to make ion transport-driven nonmechanical nL/min - uL/min pumps and molded microchannels to provide ultra-miniature suppressors and eluent generators. Open-channel columns with helical and 2D/3D serpentine geometries are being systematically investigated for their separations capabilities. These columns can be fabricated by 3D printing and near-IR laser machining, making them inexpensive and amenable to mass production. The team is exploring direct photothermal and multireflection absorption measurements for sensitive detection, as well as computational techniques to reduce dispersion. Finally, they are exploring the use of porous tubes (where radial flow is induced by evaporation) and pressure-driven axial flow in the presence of a transverse, time-dependent, electric field as approaches to achieving the high separation efficiencies characteristic of microchannels while operating at higher flow rates, so that extra-column dispersion requirements are lessened.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.