Compact-GC platform: A flexible system integration strategy for a completely microsystems-based gas-chromatograph

The increasing need for portable analysis systems to be used in field sensing applications with the quality and reliability of laboratory analyses, characterized by high sensitivity and specificity, calls for miniaturization and optimization of laboratory analytical techniques, as enabled by the use of micro-electro-mechanical-systems (MEMS) technology. This paper reports on an innovative all-on-MEMS platform for the implementation of miniaturized or portable multi-purpose gas-chromatographic (GC) systems. The use of a directly interconnected MEMS technology for all three main GC components, namely injector, purge&trap pre-concentrator and GC separation column, allows for a very efficient system integration and for a zero dead-volume and chemically inert analytical chain, which can be heated up to 200 °C to avoid sample condensation. In this work, the analytical chain and the integration strategy will be reported, and several applications and analyses will be demonstrated using the compact-GC platform with both photoionization (PID) and thermal conductivity detectors (TCD).