Submicrometer Plate Heights for Capillaries Packed with Silica Colloidal Crystals

Extremely uniform packing of colloidal silica in capillaries is shown. Reversed-phase electrochromatograms of DiI-C-12 exhibit plate heights as low as 0.23 mu m and a reduced plate height as low as 0.7, using 75 mu m i.d. capillaries packed with 330 nm silica particles. The contribution from the A term is 0 20 nm in electro-chromatography. The particles are shown to form colloidal crystals inside the capillaries. Optical images show Bragg diffraction, indicative of crystallinity. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images show face-centered cubic crystallinity, and the porosity is 0.25 +/- 0.01, which is in agreement with that for face-centered cubic crystals. The capillaries are fritless, and 100 mu m i.d. capillaries packed with silica colloidal crystals withstand pressures of at least 12 400 psi.