During the last decades, a great interest has been shown for miniaturised separation techniques. The use of microfluidic techniques fulfills the constant needs for increasing sample throughput and analysis sensitivity, while reducing costs and sample volume consumption. In this chapter, three microfluidic separation techniques will be addressed: capillary electrophoresis, gas chromatography and liquid chromatography. A special attention will be paid to miniaturised liquid chromatography, with a deep investigation of its advantages compared with classical liquid chromatography. Sample preparation adapted to low volumes (a few µl) will also be discussed.
Part of the book: Advances in Microfluidics