Advanced Materials Technology - AMT

In fused-core technology (or core-shell, superficially porous particles SPP), the particles consist of a non-porous core and a porous shell. This thin, porous shell enables faster mass transfer of the analytes between the mobile and stationary phases. This reduces the broadening of peaks due to mass transfer and therefore the B term of the van Deemter equation is smaller compared to fully porous particles. With fused-core technology, more uniform particles are also obtained, resulting in a more uniform flow through the packing bed. This in turn reduces the A-term of the van Deemter equation.

The reduction in the A-term and B-term results in significantly lower theoretical plate heights and therefore higher efficiencies (higher plate counts) of core-shell particles. This means that higher flow rates are possible with the same efficiency. Thus, a 2.7µm particle with fused-core technology has a similar separation performance as a sub 2µm fully porous material. Due to the non-porous core, the back pressure is as low as with 5µm particles, so that a UHPLC-like performance can be achieved on a conventional HPLC.