Capillary Coated with Graphene and Graphene Oxide Sheets as Stationary Phase for Capillary Electrochromatography and Capillary Liquid Chromatography

Graphene oxide (GO) nanosheets were immobilized onto the capillary wall using 3-aminopropyldiethoxymethyl silane as coupling agent. Graphene coated column (G@column) was fabricated by hydrazine reduction of GO modified column. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) images provided visible evidence of the GO grafted on the capillary wall. Energy dispersive X-ray spectrometry (EDS) indicated the high coverage of the GO on the capillary wall. The G@column exhibited a pH-dependent electroosmotic flow (EOF) from anode to cathode in the pH range of 3-9 while the graphene oxide coated column (GO@column) showed a constant EOF. Both GO@column and G@column were evaluated for open-tubular capillary electrochromatography (OT-CEC). The GO@column was also evaluated for open-tubular capillary liquid chromatography (OT-CLC). Good separation of the tested neutral analytes on the GO@column was achieved on the basis of a typical reversed-phase behavior. On the contrary, G@column showed poor separation performance because of the strong pi-pi stacking and hydrophobic interactions between graphene and polyaromatic hydrocarbons. The high coverage of GO improved the column phase ratio which makes the GO@column promising for OT-CLC separation. Five of the major known proteins including three glycoisoforms of ovalbumin in chicken egg white were identified in a single run on the GO@column with phosphate buffer (5 mM, pH 7.0) and an applied voltage of 20 kV. The run-to-run, day-to-day, and column-to-column reproducibilities are evaluated by calculating the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the EOF in OT-CEC and retention time of naphthalene in OT-CLC, respectively. These RSD values were found to be less than 3%.