Thin-film polymer light emitting diodes as integrated excitation sources for microscale capillary electrophoresis

Joshua B. Edel, Nigel P. Beard, Oliver Hofmann, John C. DeMello, Donal D.C. Bradley, Andrew J. DeMello

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

76 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report the use of a thin-film polymer light emitting diode as an integrated excitation source for microfabricated capillary electrophoresis. The polyfluorene-based diode has a peak emission wavelength of 488 nm, an active area of 40 μm × 1000 μm and a thickness of ∼2 mm. The simple layer-by-layer deposition procedures used to fabricate the polymer component allow facile integration with planar chip-based systems. To demonstrate the efficacy of the approach, the polyfluorene diode is used as an excitation source for the detection of fluorescent dyes separated on-chip by electrophoresis. Using a conventional confocal detection system the integrated pLED is successfully used to detect fluorescein and 5-carboxyfluorescein at concentrations as low as 10-6 M with a mass detection limit of 50 femtomoles. The drive voltages required to generate sufficient emission from the polymer diode device are as low as 3.7 V.
Original languageEnglish (US)
JournalLab on a Chip
Volume4
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jan 1 2004
Externally publishedYes

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