Field flow fractionation (FFF) is a rapid but gentle separation technique similar to size exclusion chromatography that uses a membrane or hollow-fiber instead of a column. In this technique, a perpendicular flow is used to separate molecules on either a membrane (AF4) or a hollow-fiber (HF5).
The FFF system in the lower campus laboratory uses a Shimadzu Prominence HPLC system to deliver the solvent and inject samples. A Wyatt Dualtec module is used to control the different flows across the membrane or hollow-fiber. The system also has UV and RI detectors as well as both dynamic and static light scattering detectors. These detectors together provide information about the size and mass of molecules.
This instrument is suited to a wide range of applications including separation and analysis of water-soluble nanoparticles, micelles, proteins and polymers.
